Amid crackdown, tunnel smuggling is risky business in Gaza
As the Egyptian army intensifies its campaign to destroy the border tunnels from southern Gaza, many still rely on smuggling goods for work, as no better jobs are available.
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Since former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi was ousted in June 2013, the Egyptian military has been trying to eliminate the smuggling tunnels beneath the border in the southern Gaza Strip, destroying them and expanding the buffer zone.
Some of these tunnels are still functioning — cautiously, given the enormous risks such as the eroding soil inside the structures, the strict surveillance on smugglers and the gas bombs used against them. These tunnels remain the only way to bring goods into Gaza that are banned by Israel from entering through Gaza’s only commercial crossing, the Kerem Shalom crossing. Tunnel smuggling is also a way to evade new taxes imposed by Hamas on goods imported through Kerem Shalom.
Al-Monitor’s correspondent in Rafah met with a tunnel merchant nicknamed Abu Raed. He owns a tunnel used to smuggle goods across the border with Egypt. He said, “Gaza still needs more tunnels, as most of them were destroyed.”
Abu Raed told Al-Monitor he smuggles goods banned by Israel and subject to high taxes by Hamas, adding that he smuggles Egyptian cigarettes “given their low price and the absence of tobacco factories in Gaza. Cigarettes are imported from the West Bank, and Hamas imposes a 17% tax. Gaza also imports foreign tobacco, on which Hamas also imposes a high tax.”
