Gazans want their finger-licking chicken too! KFC buckets smuggled through tunnels

Chicken run: KFC gets smuggled from Egypt into Gaza through tunnels. (Photo courtesy of BuzzFeed)

In Gaza, a takeaway meal from KFC can hardly be termed 'fast food'.

Israel's blockade of the strip has not stopped residents ordering their favorite fried chicken from Colonel Sanders.

But delivery, via underground tunnels from neighboring Egypt, takes around four hours.

There are no branches of KFC in the Palestinian territory - spelling a good business opportunity for some.

The Al-Yamama delivery firm charges about $30 for a family meal costing $11 in Egypt, Xinhua reported.

But Palestinians craving the infamous fried chicken don’t mind paying more than double the price for the meals.

The delivery company says the higher price is due to the transportation and smuggling fees - and said that many factors can lead to a delay.

“Sometimes Hamas checks meals, sometimes the taxi picking up Sinai orders is late," Mohammed Al-Madani, an accountant at Al-Yamama, told Xinhua.

Israel's blockade of Gaza, imposed in 2006, placed harsh restrictions on the coastal enclave.

Yet a wide variety of smuggled goods find their way to the territory via a network of underground tunnels.

These include weapons, construction supplies, cigarettes, livestock and ‘even the occasional lion’, according to National Public Radio.