RAFAH, Gaza Strip — On July 3, nine Palestinian workers were trapped after the Egyptian army destroyed a tunnel used for smuggling commercial goods under the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. After several hours of no contact, the workers were eventually found and rescued.

Neither the Egyptian nor the Palestinian authorities gave further details about the incident, but the Egyptian army is still waging a campaign against the tunnels on the border with Gaza, which it believes are used as smuggling routes for weapons and terrorists to and from Sinai.

Although Hamas’ Ministry of Interior established a buffer zone on the border with Egypt in June 2017 in the framework of joint security coordination between the movement and Egypt, smugglers have continued to operate from Gaza. The tunnels represent a lifeline for food and medical supplies to the Gaza Strip, which has been under siege since 2006.

Ismail (a pseudonym), who works in a commercial tunnel on the Gazan-Egyptian border, told Al-Monitor, “Border tunnels are still needed to get certain materials that Israel does not allow through the Kerem Shalom crossing, the only effective commercial crossing.”