ISRAEL BOMBED two smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border and a site east of Gaza city on Saturday in retaliation for the firing of two mortars into Israel the day before.
Israel declared that the tunnels targeted were used for bringing weapons into the Strip and that the site was a weapons lab. Gazans dismissed the claims.
A UN source remarked: “The Israelis want to demonstrate they can close the tunnels at any time.”
Without the tunnels, Gaza’s 1.5 million Palestinians are lost. Only 20 per cent of the level of goods being brought into Gaza before Israel’s 2007 siege and blockade are now being imported through Israel. Most are basic humanitarian supplies for distribution to the 85 per cent of Gazans who depend on UN rations of flour, rice and oil.
A year ago there were 750 tunnels, but now there are 1,300-1,500. Their entrances marked by tents, they operate under the watchful eyes of Egyptian guards and Israeli spy drones.
Gazans of all ranks and stations depend on meat, fish, soft drinks, livestock, household appliances, toothpaste, soap, toilet paper and medicines the tunnels bring. The poor buy cheap clothing from China, foodstuffs from Egypt, and plastic sheets to mend blast-shattered windows. The rich luxuriate in panes of real glass.
Basil Shawwa, manager of Marna House, Gaza’s oldest hotel, said, “It costs $60,000 [€41,000] to make a good tunnel, $30,000 for a poor one and $500,000 for one large enough to bring cars. But there is a limit. Too many cars will attract [Israeli] rockets.”
Construction materials brought in through the tunnels are too expensive for rebuilding homes and infrastructure damaged or destroyed during Israel’s 23-day war on the Strip in December-January. Cement in Gaza is five times the price in Israel, and six times that in Egypt. This has not deterred Mr Shawwa, however.
Since the war ended, he has built a new conference room and office and roofed, paved and enclosed the garden restaurant. “Once we get cement at good prices, I plan to make a new building in the back and use the whole roof for a big conference centre for 200-500 persons.” One major difficulty is electricity, which costs $2,000 a month.
Hamas, which rules Gaza, has not interfered in the running of Marna House. “When the war finished, I continued my business. I won’t stop for any reason except if I don’t have money or I die.” But he has no hope for a better future.
Few Gazans do. Half a dozen young professionals I met at the Mazaj Cafe on Gaza City’s main thoroughfare agreed with Mr Shawwa. Hala, who is between jobs, remarked, “We care about feeding our children rather than opposing the occupation.”