Gaza City  - Three Palestinians from the same family were killed and one injured Friday when a smuggling tunnel on the borders between the Gaza Strip and the Egyptian Sinai peninsula collapsed, according to medical sources.

The sources at Yousef Najjar hospital in the Gaza border town of Rafah said two Palestinians from the Lahham family from Khan Younis age 20 and a third age 24 were brought to hospital dead and another one from the same family arrived in critical condition.

They said civil defense units and residents helped dig out the Palestinians after the tunnel collapsed when a sewage line burst flooding the tunnel.

Smuggling tunnels became widespread on the Gaza-Egyptian borders after Israel imposed a blockade on the Strip following the Islamist Hamas takeover of Gaza two years ago.

A total of 120 Palestinians have been killed in work accidents in the tunnels since then. Israel has regularly bombarded the tunnels, the latest was earlier this week killing three brothers. (dpa)