RAFAH TUNNELS CLAIM THE LIVES OF 232 PEOPLE SINCE 2006

         Gaza, 8 Rabiul Awal 1434/20 January 2013 (MINA) – Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights stated that 232 Palestinians have died while 597 others have been injured due to the working accidents in the tunnels at the Palestinian-Egyptian borders in Rafah, since 2006, according to Al Qassam website www.qassam.ps report monitored by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA), Sunday.

         The Centre said in a statement on Thursday that, since 2006, the number of those killed in the tunnels has reached 232 people, including 20 killed by Israeli shelling on the tunnels and its surroundings and 9 children, while the number of the employees in the tunnels who had been injured hit 597.

 

      It noted that the work in the tunnels continues to cause human losses “in light of the absence of measures which could reduce casualties and protect the lives of the employees and their physical safety”.

 

       The tunnels phenomenon has remarkably emerged in 2006, when Israel imposed the siege as a punitive measure on the Gaza Strip after Hamas won the Legislative Council elections.

 

       The Human rights center called on the government to take all measures necessary to protect the workers in the tunnels and to prevent more casualties, pointing out that poverty and destitution represent the workers’ main motive to risk their lives in order to earn a living.

 

        AL-Mezan Center demanded the government in Gaza to search into the feasibility of continuing working in the tunnels in light of the continuation of human losses and the decline of its contribution to the Palestinian economy in the Gaza Strip. (T/R-012/R-006)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)