(Related: "Middle East Expert Discusses Islamic Extremism" [December 11, 2002].)
Throughout the closure, which cut power to a third of Gaza's residents, hospitals kept running on generators.
But most bakeries shut down, and long lines formed at those that were open. A shipment of cooking gas sent in by Israel on Tuesday sold out in an hour.
Pictures of blacked-out Gaza City, children marching mournfully with candles, and people lining up at bakeries evoked urgent appeals from governments, aid agencies, and the United Nations for an end to the blockade.
On Tuesday hundreds of Hamas supporters briefly broke through the Gaza-Egypt border and clashed with Egyptian riot police who fired into the air, wounding 70 people on both sides.
The protesters hurled insults at Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, calling him a coward.
Mubarak told reporters at the Cairo International Book fair that when Palestinians began breaking through the border 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.
Break the Ice
Palestinians have broken through the Egypt border several times since Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005 and stopped patrolling the border.
But none of the previous breaches approached the scale of Wednesday's destruction, which demolished two-thirds of the barrier wall.
Gaza residents walked unhindered over the toppled metal plates carrying goats, chickens, and crates of Coca-Cola.
Some brought back televisions and car tires. One man bought a motorcycle. Vendors sold soft drinks and baked goods to the crowds.
Within hours, shops on the Egyptian side of the divided border town of Rafah had run out of most of their wares.
Ibrahim Abu Taha, 45, a Palestinian father of seven, was in the Egyptian section of Rafah with his two brothers and $185 (U.S.) in his pocket.
"We want to buy food, we want to buy rice and sugar, milk and wheat and some cheese," Abu Taha said, adding that he would also buy cheap Egyptian cigarettes.
Abu Taha said he could get such basic foods in Gaza, but at three times the cost.
Moussa Zuroub, a 28-year-old Palestinian, carried his young daughter Aseel on his shoulders, trudging through the muddy streets of Egyptian Rafah.
"I'm coming just to break that ice—that all my life, I'd never left Gaza before," Zuroub said.
Israel maintains that Hamas was creating an artificial crisis during the blockade.
But the country has pledged to continue limited shipments because of humanitarian concerns.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the U.S. wants to see stability in the region, but that "most importantly both the security concerns of Israel and the humanitarian concerns of Gazans be met."
The European Union is to issue a statement later today.
Associated Press Writer Ashraf Sweilam reported from Rafah, Egypt.
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