More people have recently died and been injured in the tunnels around Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
On Saturday 24 September 2011, two persons died and six persons were injured in a tunnel accident.
  According to the information available to the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, 197 persons have been killed in the tunnels since 2009; 10were children.
In addition, 20people have been killed and 583 persons injured inside tunnels as a result of Israeli aerial attacks on the tunnel area.
In 2011 alone, 17 persons died and 42 persons were injured.
Al Mezan expresses its regret for the high number of victims in these incidents, and calls on the Gazan government to take effective steps to protect the lives of those who work in the tunnels.
  According to Al Mezan’s field investigations, at approximately 3:50 pm on Saturday 24 September 2011, a fire erupted in six tunnels on the Gaza-Egypt border near the As-Salam neighborhood, south of Rafah, when a gas canister exploded in one tunnel and gas leaked into adjacent tunnels.
As a result, Wesam Ali Zwedi, 32, from Khan Younis, died and seven other persons were injured.
Medical sources at Abu Yousif An-Najjar Hospital described the injuries of three as critical.
  At approximately 6:00 pm on the same day, medical sources at the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis announced the death of the injured Mohammed ‘Awni Harb ‘Abdeen, 18.
He died from wounds that he had sustained in the tunnel fire.
Al Mezan has identified the names of the injured persons as follows:   ·         Husam Anwar Abu Jamea’, 24(sustained critical injury); ·         Attiya Farouq Abdel Kareem, 37; ·         Mahmoud Tawfeq Ismail Al Astal, 35; ·         Rafar Mohammed Al Breim, 25, from Khan Younis; ·         Awad Samer Deeb Abu Takfa, 26, from Rafah; and ·         Khader Abdel Kareem, 20, from Jabaliya.
  Some of them were referred to other hospitals in Khan Younis and Rafah.
  The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights expresses its deep regret for the high number of victims in these incidents.
Most of the people who work in the tunnels are from very poor backgrounds and have been forced to undertake this kind of labor to provide for their families under the difficult socioeconomic conditions caused by the Israeli siege on Gaza.
Nevertheless, Al Mezan reiterates its position that the smuggling tunnels remain illegal.
  It should be noted that the tight siege imposed by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on the Gaza Strip, which prevents the free movement of commodities and humanitarian supplies, has driven the tunnel industry, which has prospered in response to the acute lack of essential goods in Gaza.
  Therefore, the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights reiterates its call on the international community to uphold its moral and legal obligations and to take effective procedures to end the Israeli siege imposed on the Gaza Strip.
Al Mezan also calls on the international community to work towards ensuring the protection of the Palestinians’ rights to free movement and passage of individuals and commodities in and out of the Gaza Strip.
  Al Mezan reiterates its previous calls on the Gazan government to take effective steps to protect tunnel workers and to prevent the injury and death of further victims for as long as Israeli siege is imposed.
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