Egypt struggles to control Gaza border

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Source: CCTV.com | 01-29-2008 08:23

Egyptian troops have been ordered across their country's border with Gaza to try to control the breaches at the Rafah border crossing.

Egyptian soldiers close part of a destroyed section  of the border wall between the Gaza Strip and Egypt  January 28, 2008.(Xinhua/AFP Photo)

Egypt has struggled to re-seal the border and contain hundreds of thousands of Gazans who have poured across. Militants blasted openings last Wednesday to evade an Israeli blockade on the Hamas-run territory.

Dozens of Egyptian troops patrolled the border and worked to dismantle the destroyed fence and erect a new one along the breaches.

Merchants in the border town of Rafah say they are struggling to get supplies of food and cigarettes. Fuel is also running short.

Egyptian forces tried to seal the border last week but militants just bulldozed new openings.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has proposed taking responsibility of Rafah, along with the Gaza Strip's main crossing points with Israel. But this initiative faces opposition from Hamas.

Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas Spokesman, said, "The position of Hamas is clear which is that we're holding onto the Rafah crossing as an Egyptian-Palestinian crossing, in accordance to new arrangements. There is no way that we could go back to prior conditions on this crossing, which were the reasons for imposing the siege against our Palestinian people."

A delegation of Hamas is scheduled to discuss the crisis with Egyptian officials in Cairo on Wednesday.

Editor:Zhang Pengfei