Gaza Wall Knocked Down; Thousands Pour Into Egypt

Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City, Gaza Strip
Associated Press

January 23, 2008

Thousands of Palestinians crossed out of the Gaza Strip and into Egypt early this morning after masked gunmen destroyed most of the border wall, witnesses and Hamas security officials said.

Egyptian guards took no action as people rushed to buy food, fuel, and other supplies that have become scarce in Gaza because of an Israeli blockade, the witnesses and officials said.

Police from Hamas, the Islamic militant party that rules Gaza, also stood by.

Following a blackout that lasted almost two days, Israel transferred fuel to restart Gaza's only electricity plant on Tuesday.

The move eased its five-day blockade of the Palestinian territory amid growing international concerns about a humanitarian crisis.

Then, before dawn this morning, Palestinian gunmen began blowing holes in the 7-mile-long (11-kilometer-long) wall dividing the border town of Rafah (see map).

There were 17 explosions in all, Hamas security officials said. At first, Hamas and Egyptian security officers prevented people from getting through, witnesses said.

But by morning thousands of Gazans had massed at the border and the overwhelmed police began letting people cross.

Across the coastal strip, home to 1.5 million Palestinians, people pushed into buses and piled into rickety pickup trucks heading to Egypt for an opportunity to escape months of isolation.

Tight Seige

Israel and Egypt had banned most crossings in and out of the Gaza Strip since Hamas seized control of the territory in June.

Israel then imposed a tight siege almost a week ago in response to increasing rocket attacks on its border communities by Gaza militants.

(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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