| abstract | - Rafah is located on the border of the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Because of this strategic location, it accommodated tunnels and has a history of smuggling. These tunnels were and are mainly used by Palestinian militant organizations and gangs for weapon smuggling, and bringing cheap goods from Egypt into the Gaza Strip. The tunnels connect the Egyptian town of Rafah with the Palestinian refugee camp of Rafah. The tunnels were originally constructed for the purpose of illegal arms smuggling to supply terrorist activity but have subsequently also been used to smuggle people (in and out) as well as for commercial profit-making smuggling of materials like medicine, food and clothes, cigarettes, alcohol, and vehicle parts into Gaza. The tunnels are normally dug by individual contractors from basements of houses or an olive grove under the border at depths of up to 15 meters (49 feet), reaching up to 800 meters (2640 feet) in length. In some cases, the owners of the houses might receive a portion of the profits from the smuggling and maybe some sort of financial compensation from those in charge of the tunnel building if the tunnel is discovered and the house destroyed.
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