Gaza tunnels - in pictures

A Palestinian tunnel-digger lowers himself into the smuggling tunnel beneath the Egyptian-Gaza border. The tunnels are used to smuggle goods, including building material and fuel, into the blockaded Palestinian territory Photograph: UPI/Landov/Barcroft Media

Gaza's tunnel-smugglers are mostly idle these days. Some rest on cots in the dank underground pathways as others pass the time cleaning the small carts on wheels that are normally pulled through the tunnels carrying cement or consumer goods Photograph: Hatem Moussa/AP

A Palestinian youth works outside a smuggling tunnel Photograph: UPI /Landov/Barcroft Media

Some mask their faces with shirts to avoid identification while working, for fear of repercussions in case they were to travel to Egypt in the future Photograph: Hatem Moussa/AP

Israeli Brigadier General Micky Edelstien shows the inside of a tunnel near Kissufim Base in Ein Hashlosha, Israel, allegedly dug by Gaza militants Photograph: Xinhua/Landov/Barcroft Media

Since early September, with most tunnels closed, only a few tunnel workers report for maintenance work Photograph: Hatem Moussa/AP

Egypt's military has tried to destroy or seal off most of the smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border, a consequence of the heightened tensions between Cairo and the Hamas government in Gaza Photograph: Hatem Moussa/AP

A view of a ventilation shaft along a tunnel allegedly dug by Palestinians beneath the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel and recently uncovered by Israeli troops Photograph: David Buimovitch/AFP/Getty Images

The tunnels once employed thousands of young men in Gaza Photograph: Hatem Moussa/AP

A worker carries wood as he repairs a tunnel Photograph: Ahmed Zakot/Reuters

An Israeli soldier walks out from a tunnel that the Israeli army reportedly discovered and seized on 7 October, near Kissufum, southern Israel, along the border with the Gaza Strip Photograph: Jim Hollander/EPA

Smoke rises after a controlled explosion at a smuggling tunnel dug beneath the border between Egypt and the Gaza strip. Egypt's army has destroyed many of the tunnels on the Egyptian side of Rafah since July Photograph: Said Khatib/AFP/Getty Images