Gaza recovers three dead bodies from smuggling tunnels

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Gaza’s ruling Hamas militant group announced the retrieval of three dead workers’ bodies from the cross-border smuggling tunnels the Palestinian territory shares with Egypt. Friday’s statement gave no cause of death, but a day earlier the group accused Egypt of pumping poisonous gas into the tunnel. These accusations could escalate tensions with Egypt just as the Egyptians are trying to broker a cease-fire agreement between Hamas and Israel. There was no immediate Egyptian comment. The men were pronounced missing late Thursday. Hamas and other militant factions later said that workers had died when toxic gas was pumped into a “trading tunnel,” calling it “murder for which Egyptian authorities bear full responsibility.”