Three Palestinian workmen died and five others suffered injuries at dawn Saturday when the Egyptian army detonated a commercial tunnel they were inside in Rafah area south of the embattled Gaza Strip.
Rescue crews were able to pull out the bodies of three Gazan workmen from the bombed tunnel after they died of suffocation.
Five others received immediate medical assistance from paramedics and were taken to a local hospital in Rafah according to a statement released in the morning by the Palestinian civil defense authority.
The victims were identified as Abdullah Annamouli 23 Salama Abu Shusha 24 and Obaid Assufi 25.
Two weeks ago a Palestinian workman was reported missing and several others were injured when the Egyptian army flooded one of the commercial tunnels in Rafah with seawater.
Some of the cross-border tunnels in Rafah have become partially operational after its destruction by the Egyptian army in 2013.
The Egyptian army killed dozens of tunnel workmen underground as they were working hard to make ends meet.
Commercial border tunnels have played a major role in providing Gaza with food and vital supplies since the population came under tight blockade in 2006.
