Gaza’s tunnel economy collapses in bombing raids

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Gaza Strip has lost its last lifeline after five days of Israeli bombing raids that destroyed dozens of smuggling tunnels under the sandy border with Egypt.

The passages did not just supply Hamas with arms, but brought in flour, fuel and baby milk. For Gazans, already used to blackouts and shortages from an 18-month border blockade, the daily hunt for basics is ever more desperate — though there are no reports of outright hunger.

“I fed the children cooked tomatoes today, I can’t find bread,” Nima Burdeini, a mother of 11, said Wednesday at the Rafah refugee camp on the Gaza-Egypt border.

Israeli warplanes pounded the illicit tunnels as a part of the heavy bombardment of Hamas targets in Gaza that began Saturday. The hundreds of tunnels were seen as key to keeping Hamas in power.

Tags: gaza attack, israel, palestine

This entry was posted on December 31, 2008 at December 31, 2008 and is filed under Blogger Indonesia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.