POPULATION UNDER SIEGE
The Gaza Strip one of the most densely populated areas in the world.
Around 1.8 million people call this coastal strip of just 360 square
kilometres, home. And eight years of blockades and wars have crippled
its economy. 43 percent of Gazans are unemployed, and 39 percent live in
poverty. They’re still rebuilding after last year’s war with Israel and
depend on international aid to survive. Much has been pledged, but
Israel only allows a portion of the essentials to pass through.
TUNNELS OF LIFE
Tunnels that run beneath the Egyptian border provide a vital lifeline
for many struggling families in Gaza. Smugglers often risk their lives
to use the tunnels - as Egypt has restricted access to the Rafah
crossing since its military deposed former president Mohamed Morsi in
July 2013. So far this year, the crossing’s only been open for 15 days.
Egypt also begun to demolish the tunnels in Sinai - over 1,400 of them
since the beginning of 2014. And now, it seeks to flush out the
smugglers once and for all by flooding the tunnels.
EGYPTIAN FISH FARMS
Egypt says it wants to use its 14-kilometre border with Gaza for a
different purpose - to build fish farms. And Egypt’s military has
already begun to dig along border to set up 18 fisheries. But Gazans
fear the project is just a ploy to reinforce the blockade. Hamas
official Mushir al Masri said it was to tighten the siege on Gaza. Egypt
previously cleared homes along the border to expand a buffer zone and
its military regime has accused Hamas of supporting militant groups in
the Sinai peninsula. But Hamas, which is an offshoot of the Muslim
Brotherhood now outlawed by Egypt, has denied the claims.
STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE
But because of the fisheries, prices of supplies smuggled into Gaza have skyrocketed.
Smugglers are now installing water pumps into tunnels to ease the
flooding. Currently, it’s believed that only 20 tunnels are still
actively being used. The mayor of Rafah, Subhi Radwan, has warned that
the flooding of the tunnels could cause homes on the Gazan side of the
border to collapse. He also said that filling them with sea water could
contaminate Gaza’s drinking water. But for now, Gazans have little
choice but to watch on from behind the borders.
People
rarely came this far, she told us, and it seemed to her that very few
of those that did, cared enough to ask how they were doing.
"Not well at all," she said needing little prodding. "Not well at all."
Mansura was clearly exhausted from having stayed up the night before.
Fearful
for her family, she sat outside her makeshift house just a few hundred
metres from the border between Gaza and Egypt, on guard until dawn.
"We're used to the guns and the rockets and the explosions," she said. "But now - water?"
Witness: The Gaza tunnels
Her voice trembled, and tears began to pool in her eyes.
"This is our life," she said hopelessly.
"We are so, so tired."
Mansura lives in Rafah, the town divided between Gaza and Egypt by international
***********************************************************
Strangled: Gaza after Egypt floods tunnels
Marga Ortigas covers the Asia-Pacific region for Al Jazeera English.
Seventy-three year old Mansura Abu Shaar was more than happy to talk to strangers.
People
rarely came this far, she told us, and it seemed to her that very few
of those that did, cared enough to ask how they were doing.
"Not well at all," she said needing little prodding. "Not well at all."
Mansura was clearly exhausted from having stayed up the night before.
Fearful
for her family, she sat outside her makeshift house just a few hundred
metres from the border between Gaza and Egypt, on guard until dawn.
"We're
used to the guns and the rockets and the explosions," she said. "But
now - water?" Her voice trembled, and tears began to pool in her eyes.
"This is our life," she said hopelessly.
"We are so, so tired."
Mansura lives in Rafah, the town divided between Gaza and Egypt by international political agreements in the 1980s.
With Israel the only other way in or out, Gazans saw the border with fellow-Arab Egypt as the "friendly" alternative.
It was a pressure valve when all else around them seemed to be closing in.
But the "friendly border" closed when Hamas took control of the government in Gaza in 2007.
At least in theory......
Read More Here
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Rafah, Gaza
- Ahmed al-Afifi cannot focus on studying as midterm exams approach.
For the past two weeks, the constant sounds of explosions have echoed
from across the border.
"We are not psychologically ready for
this," said al-Afifi, 22, a Gaza-based university student who lives in
the Palestinian side of Rafah, which shares a border with Egypt's
restive Sinai peninsula. His home is about 400m from the border, and the
explosions are part of an Egyptian military operation to initially
create a 500m-deep buffer zone.
But on Tuesday November 18, Egyptian authorities said they were to expand the buffer zone to one km.
The
army is clearing the area by using dynamite and bulldozers, a
systematic campaign also aimed at destroying smuggling tunnels into
Gaza. The operation followed the killing of 33 Egyptian soldiers in an
attack in North Sinai in October. Egyptian authorities have ordered
residents living along the country's eastern border with Gaza to
evacuate their homes, which are targeted for demolition.
On Monday
November 17, Rober Turner, head of UNRAWA operations in Gaza, said that
the buffer zone set up by Egyptian authorities will make things more
difficult . He described the siege as 'unjust'.
Read More Here
***************************************************
Egypt floods people-smuggling tunnels leading from Sinai to the Gaza Strip in a renewed effort to stamp out terror activity
- Authorities
feared the tunnels would allow Islamist militants to smuggle people and
weapons across the border in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip
- Military pumped water from the Mediterranean Sea into the tunnel pipes, which are now to be converted into fish farms
- Hamas previously infiltrated Israel via smuggling tunnels, killing 12 soldiers and destroying 32 underground passages
Published: 18:49 EST, 19 September 2015 | Updated: 20:49 EST, 19 September 2015
Egyptian
forces flooded smuggling tunnels beneath the Gaza-Egypt border in Rafah
on Friday in a reported attempt to stamp out terror activity.
Authorities
feared the tunnels, which lead from Sinai to the Gaza Strip, would
allow for smuggling by Islamist militants between the blockaded
Palestinian enclave, according to a report by
DPA.
The
military pumped water from the Mediterranean Sea into the pipes of the
underground cross-border tunnels in an effort to curb the use of the
passages in their entirety.
A
Palestinian youth shows how to abseil into one of the tunnels on the
Gaza side after Egyptian forces flooded smuggling tunnels beneath the
border to the Gaza strip, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip
Read More Here
By Michael Snyder, on September 24th, 2015
![Egyptian authorities have ordered residents living along the border with Gaza to evacuate their homes [Al Jazeera]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vVk72gpl-zYGsxnWzS2PR5OsV5Yvqbel3RmORciOz5H9PByEFYFmH6jqM10rverMzCV6LUNZbHrnHgcl5gAATbnqPzDLh3NN-Ml7FK-4O0kqhTGLBkEbupXTe-5xnoa-KP4xonm7T77Hy-YkEKO9IBVFEMhvxEOc7a9Q04QrNR2vaJAI3xVfCvKBjrzYCJYA=s0-d "'Rafah has turned into a ghost town'")
Egyptian authorities have ordered residents living along the border with Gaza to evacuate their homes [Al Jazeera]
