Special to WorldTribune.com

GAZA CITY — Scores of smuggling tunnels that connect Egypt to the
Gaza Strip have collapsed.

Palestinian sources said the Hamas regime has been struggling with the
collapse of at least 20 tunnels during the storms in the Levant in January
2013. They said many other tunnels have been flooded by some three days of
constant rain.

“This has caused major damage and disrupted smuggling,” a source said.

On Jan. 12, a Palestinian was killed and three others injured in a
tunnel collapse. The sources said the collapse took place as goods were
being smuggled from Egypt to the Gaza Strip.

“The Civil Defense Department recovered the body of a 20-year-old
Palestinian from a tunnel flooded from the rain,” the department said on Jan. 13.

The sources said the flooding has made scores of tunnels unsafe for
smuggling of weapons and other goods. They said Gaza tunnel owners would need weeks to reinforce the tunnels to prevent collapse.

About 1,200 tunnels were estimated to link Rafah, divided into Gaza and Egyptian zones. The Hamas regime controls more than 100 tunnels for weapons
and fuel smuggling.

The sources said the rain was also believed to have damaged Hamas and
Palestinian militia arsenals and positions. They said Hamas and Islamic
Jihad had been unprepared for the heavy rains, which sparked flooding
throughout the Gaza Strip as well as in neighboring Israel.

  disrupts smuggling, Gaza Strip, Heavy rain collapses 20 Hamas tunnels, Islamic Jihad, Rafah