Gaza border remains breached

By Associated Press
January 25, 2008

Gazans near border (Photo: AP)

Earlier Friday, hundreds of Palestinians rushed into Egypt after Hamas militants used a bulldozer to knock over a new section of the border wall separating Gaza and Egypt.

Men in black clothing, some of them masked, stood atop the bulldozer as it knocked down a concrete slab under the watchful eyes of Egyptian troops on the other side who shot in the air in an attempt to hinder the flow of Gazans into Egypt.

Sources in the Strip and in Egypt estimated that some 500,000 Gazans have already crossed over to the Egyptian side.

Egyptian border guards appeared to be taking steps to close the border with the Gaza Strip on Friday, forming a human chain and blocking movement of Palestinians into Egypt with their riot shields, witnesses said.

The Egyptians were allowing passage only to Palestinians seeking to return to the strip after visiting Egypt, in the wake of the demolition of large stretches of the border wall by Hamas militants Wednesday.