“For me and the Palestinians of Gaza, tunnels have become something of an essential infrastructure. In 2007, Israel imposed a debilitating siege on Gaza, and as an occupying power, it has been able to fully control what can come through border crossings, including the one with Egypt at Rafah,” Palestinian-American photojournalist Eman Mohammed writes for Al Jazeera.

“Throughout the past 16 years, the Israeli authorities have decided arbitrarily to ban certain goods from entering the strip as yet another form of collective punishment of its population. For example, in 2009, they decided that no pasta could enter Gaza. Yes, pasta.

“So, the Palestinians dug tunnels to try to smuggle in pasta and any other essential items that Israel would randomly ban.”

“Food, medicine and fuel started to trickle in from what came to be known as ‘the Metro’ — which probably had more stops than Washington, DC’s metro system and, I dare say, was a little bit safer,” she adds.

Read the full story here.