World Bulletin / News Desk 

A Palestinian youth died Monday when a smuggling tunnel linking the blockaded Gaza Strip to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula collapsed, a Palestinian official has said.

Mohamed al-Najjar, 26, was working in a smuggling tunnel on the border between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip when the tunnel collapsed, Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qodra said in a statement.

The Egyptian military has recently launched a wide-ranging campaign to destroy the network of underground tunnels linking Gaza to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

For years, the tunnels have been used by Gazans to bring basic goods into the enclave, which are otherwise barred by an ongoing Israeli blockade.