Three die in Gaza tunnel after inhaling gas

Five others injured in digging accident on Rafah border while attempting to fix a shaft destroyed by the Egyptian army

By Itamar Sharon
  • Itamar Sharon is a news editor at The Times of Israel
 25 February 2017, 9:13 am
In this Monday, September 30, 2013 file photo, a Palestinian worker rests inside a smuggling tunnel in Rafah, on the border between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip. (AP/Hatem Moussa)

Three Palestinians died in a smuggling tunnel between the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula early Saturday, and five were injured, after the group inhaled toxic gas during attempts to repair the tunnel.

The tunnel had been destroyed in an Egyptian army border operation in Rafah, and the Palestinians were working to rebuild it when they were exposed to the gas.

Tunnel deaths have been a common occurrence recently. Last year, 22 members of Hamas’s armed wing were killed while “preparing equipment,” the majority in a string of tunnel collapses, the terror group said last month.

Gaza terrorists have dug dozens of tunnels, many reaching across the border into Israel, to launch attacks in the Jewish state.

Israel destroyed many of them during its 2014 war with Hamas, but Hamas has since been rebuilding the network.

Dov Lieber contributed to this report.

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