Two Palestinians killed in Gaza tunnel collapse

At least two Palestinians were killed and at least one other was injured Wednesday in the collapse of a tunnel in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said.

Local reports said the cave-in occurred in the Shejaiya neighborhood in the northern Gaza Strip, around half a kilometer from the border fence with Israel.

The Gaza health ministry identified the two as Ismail Shmali and Rami al-Areir, both in their 20s. It said a third person was injured.

Israeli media outlets identified the men as Hamas members. Tunnels in the northern Gaza Strip are usually used by the terrorist groups to infiltrate into Israel or for moving armed men around without being detected by Israel.

Earlier this week four Palestinians were found dead in a smuggling tunnel linking the Gaza Strip to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, local officials said Sunday, accusing the Egyptian military of flooding it.

The four men aged 22 to 45 “were found dead after the tunnel they were working in was flooded nine days ago by the Egyptian army,” local authorities in the Gazan city of Rafah near Egypt’s border said in a statement.

The report did not say if the men belonged to the terrorist group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, or to one of the numerous other armed factions that operate there.

AFP contributed to this report.