Hamas calls on Egypt to stop flooding tunnels

The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement has called on the Egyptian authorities to stop flooding cross-border tunnels used to smuggle food into the Gaza Strip, which has now been under a strict Israeli-led siege for ten years, report Anadolu and Quds Press.

The statement from Hamas came one day after rescue services recovered the bodies of four Palestinian men who were lost about ten days ago when the Egyptian army flooded the tunnel in which they were working. The movement, which has de facto control of the Gaza Strip, described the dead workers as “martyrs”, saying that they had died as a direct result of the Egyptian regime’s decision last week to flood the cross-border tunnels with seawater.

“We condemn this tragic incident,” said Hamas. “There is no justification for resorting to such dangerous tactics when dealing with the besieged people of Gaza.”

In recent months, the Egyptian army has been flooding the network of tunnels methodically in an attempt to destroy them and prevent smuggling, which provides a lifeline to the besieged Palestinians in Gaza. The crackdown on the tunnels began after the 2013 military coup in Egypt when the first freely elected President, Mohamed Morsi, was ousted.

Hamas also called on the Egyptian authorities to open the Rafah Crossing regularly instead of just a couple of days every one or two months.