Gaza, November 09: A report published on Saturday showed that 32 Palestinian children have been killed while working in smuggling tunnels under the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt in past three years.
The report, conducted by the Palestinian National Society for Democracy and Law, said 32 children were killed since Israel imposed a blockade on the coastal enclave in mid-2006 and restricted entry of goods to little more than food and medicine.
The research also focused on child labor, revealing that children, under 18 years old, work for 12 hours a day in the tunnels, and some of them take pain-killer called Tramadol and energy-giving drugs.
The report said during this period, 117 Palestinians in total have been killed in the tunnels, which flourished in the Hamas-run area due to the tight blockade.
The cave-ins often result from Israeli air raids, Egyptian detonation of channels ends in the Egyptian territories and natural circumstances.
The Israeli siege on Gaza, where about 36,000 factories shut down, deepened poverty and unemployment situation, and led to a drop of education levels. As a result, more parents encourage their children to take risks to work in the tunnels.
—–Agencies