Thousands cross Rafah borders; Hamas says itâ€™s the decision of the people

Wednesday January 23, 2008 15:51

by Nisreen Qumsieh & Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News

Thousands of Palestinians residents of the Gaza strip managed to cross into Egypt in the early hours of Wednesday after the Palestinian resistance destroyed part of the Wall located on the southern Gaza Egypt borders.

Rafah borders - File 2007

Eyewitnesses reported that streets throughout Gaza were crowded as civilians traveled in order to pass through to Egypt to collect supplies before the closure of the border by the Egyptian Authority.

The Gazans were shopping for food and fuel, IMEMC correspondent in Gaza, Rami Al Mughari, said.

On Wednesday at dawn the Palestinian resistance destroyed part of the Wall separating the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah from Egypt using five home made bombs, shortly after thousands of Palestinian flocked through and started to buy food and fuel supplies from Egypt to bring back to the Coastal region.

The explosions came after hundreds of Palestinian protesters on Tuesday; most of them women had protested the continuous siege of Gaza, at the main gate of Rafah crossing on Tuesday afternoon.

The protesters entered to the Egyptian side from the borders but they were dispersed by the Egyptian Security forces. Clashes broke out between them, causing injuries to at least 20 Palestinian women.

Khaled Mash'al, Hamas politburo chief in the Syrian capital Damascus said that the destruction of the Rafah Egypt border Wall was made by the people's demands and is not related to political demands.

Mash'al added that the Egyptian Gaza borders should be controlled solely by the Palestinians and Egyptians. Mash'al made his comments during the opening speech he made at the Palestinian National Conference Hamas organized in the Syrian capital Damascus on Wednesday.