After the Egyptian army destroyed from their side all the tunnels connecting Gaza to Egypt, Palestinian tunnel workers and owners are starting to rebuild the underground channels in Rafah, near the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. The Egyptian army destroyed the houses that concealed entrances to the tunnels on the Egyptian side, and pumped water inside the tunnels, which led many to collapse, or become impossible to pass for workers bringing goods from Egypt into Gaza. Ashraf, 29, a tunnel owner says: “We are working to fix the tunnel quietly, away from Egyptian eyes; six workers in the morning and other six continue to work at night under border with Egypt. They pull out the sand and mud that filled the tunnel with plastic containers pulled out by a machine.” He adds that the work is very dangerous because at any moment the tunnel could collapse completely and fall in on the workers. The Egyptian army's operation to destroy tunnels along the border with the Gaza Strip until now caused a vast economic crisis in Gaza, with no fuel, gas, goods, building materials, medicine and the other necessities of life entering while the construction, transportation and electricity crises in Gaza worsened and the unemployment rate increased. The tunnels were the only lifeline for Gaza. Abu Mohamed 45, a tunnel owner says: “Since the fall of Morsi, the tunnels completely stopped working, and I'm here with my workers to try to expand, clean up and fix the tunnel, and dig another entrance in Egypt after the original entrance was destroyed by the Egyptian army.” The tunnels and Rafah Crossing were working in full swing during the rule of Morsi according to analysts, because of the strong relationship between the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the Hamas Movement in Gaza. Morsi was Hamas's most important ally in the region. Since Morsi's ouster, Egyptian authorities tightened control over the border to prevent smuggling of goods into Gaza, as well as the alleged smuggling of weapons out of the Strip. Hamas-Egypt relations worsened, with increasing tensions in recent months linked to the rise in Islamic militancy in the Sinai Peninsula.
