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Gunmen blast open Gaza border wall

Masked Palestinian gunmen blew holes into the Gaza-Egypt border wall yesterday and thousands of Gazans trapped in their territory by a tight blockade poured into Egypt to buy food, fuel and other supplies that have become scarce.

Egyptian border guards and Hamas police took no action as Palestinians hurried over the border and began returning with bags of food, boxes of cigarettes and plastic bottles of fuel.

The chaotic scenes came on the sixth day of a complete closure of Gaza, imposed by Israel and backed by Egypt, in response to a spike in Gaza rocket attacks on Israeli border towns. Gaza's Hamas rulers have orchestrated daily demonstrations on the Gaza-Egypt border in an apparent attempt to appeal to Arab public opinion and pressure Egypt to open the passage.

On Tuesday, Israel eased the closure slightly, transferring fuel to restart Gaza's only power plant and sending in some cooking gas, food and medicine.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said yesterday that he had ordered his troops to allow Palestinians to cross into Egypt from the Gaza Strip because they were starving.

Speaking at the Cairo International Book fair, Mubarak told reporters that when Palestinians began breaking through the border at Rafah in force, he told his men to let them in to buy food before escorting them out.

"I told them to let them come in and eat and buy food and then return them later as long as they were not carrying weapons," he said.

However, Gazans are still facing critical shortages of electricity, fuel and other supplies. The territory has been largely cut off from the world since June, when Hamas seized power in Gaza by force.

With the latest blockade, Israel is trying to halt rocket fire that has sent residents in Israeli border communities scrambling for shelter several times a day.

Before dawn yesterday, Palestinian gunmen began blowing holes in the border wall running along the Gaza-Egypt border. Hamas security later closed most holes, but left two open and allowed free traffic through those.

The wall divides the town of Rafah, which has a Gazan and an Egyptian side.
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