United Nations humanitarian chief John Holmes claims that Israel’s blockade of the Gaza region is not succeeding in weakening Hamas’ hold on the territory. Holmes also warned that as bad as the hundreds of tunnels that bypass the blockade are, the people of Gaza would have difficulty surviving if Egypt succeeds in blocking them as they are a conduit for badly needed commercial goods including food and medicine. Because the tunnels are also used for smuggling money and weapons to Hamas, Egypt is reinforcing the area with underground metal plates to shut down the tunnels.