GAZA, Aug 1 (Reuters) - At least five Palestinians suffocated to death and 11 were injured on Friday while digging a smuggling tunnel beneath the Egyptian-Gaza border, hospital workers said.

Witnesses said the tunnel was being dug to smuggle goods from Egypt into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

Many Gazans use tunnels to bypass an Israeli blockade that was tightened after Hamas Islamists seized the coastal strip last year. Many of the tunnels are also used by militants to smuggle weapons from Egypt into Gaza. (Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi, editing by Tim Pearce)

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