GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — 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.
After the Islamic militants seized Gaza by force in June 2007, Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on the territory, allowing in only basic goods and humanitarian supplies.
The tunnels became a lifesaver for Hamas — and for Gaza. Some were used to sneak in arms, including rockets that militants are now firing into Israel. But most of the underground passages were used to haul in consumer goods, from motorbikes to goats, refrigerators, flour and chocolates.
Late Wednesday, the tunnel area was struck 19 times within a half hour, residents said. A Gaza health official, Moawiya Hassanain, said two people were killed and 42 wounded, including at least four children.
Economist Omar Shaban estimated some two-thirds of goods sold in Gaza came through the tunnels. He said destroying the tunnels would bruise, but not bloody, Hamas’ Gaza rule. The militant group also funds itself through local taxes and a network of businesses controlled by loyalists, he said.
But demolishing the tunnels has deepened civilian suffering.
Throughout Gaza, Israel’s bombings have brought Gaza’s dwindling economic activity to a halt.
For fear of getting caught in an airstrike, wholesalers aren’t distributing their goods, and many shopkeepers stay home.
