300 metres from Gaza

Salah Ed Din Road, Rafah, Egypt (2009) –  People here could only watch helplessly as Israeli fighter jets bombed their relatives’ houses across the border, just 300 metres away. This ramshackle street, stretching along the Rafah Crossing dividing Egypt and Gaza, covers the hundreds of tunnels from where civilians smuggle most of the everyday goods for the desperate Palestinians. Israelis charge that they are also used to smuggle rockets to Hamas, but the people here refute it adamantly. Palestinians trying to cross the border are routinely harassed by Egyptian military personnel.