Gaza Strip, PALESTINE, 17.10.08 - The tunnels dug underneath the border between Gaza and Egypt have become the principal route for contraband heading toward Gaza and they are a 'vitally important area' for the economy and the subsistence of Palestinian inhabitants, on account of 'the limitations that Israel has imposed upon the territory'. So says a report published by the UN Humanitarian Affairs Coordination office (OCHA), according to which 'shutting them down would have a dramatic impact on the living conditions of the population. 'An ever higher number of youth are ready to risk their lives working with contraband in the tunnels because of the deterioration of the humanitarian situation at an unprecedented level'. Some volunteers – says the report – have conceded that even NGO’s and human rights groups use the tunnels to 'bring food and other goods to distribute to the population under siege'. Despite the fact that it is an illegal trafficking system, the volume of goods being traded has become such that one may describe it as an actual ‘industry’.