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Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced that he had ordered his troops to allow Palestinians to cross into Egypt because they were starving. Speaking at theCairo International Book fair, Mubarak told reporters that when Palestinians began breaking through the Gaza-Egypt border at Rafah by force, he told his men tolet 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, in answer toreporters' questions. Mubarak said his border guards originally had forced back the Gazans on Tuesday. "But today a great number of them came backbecause the Palestinians in Gaza are starving due to the Israeli siege. Egyptian troops accompanied them to buy food and then allowed them to return to theGaza Strip," he added.
Mubarak also criticized Hamas for continuing to fire missiles into Israel, saying that it was not helping the situation. He said that he had been in contactwith Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and helped convince him to resume fuel shipments into Gaza. "Although fuel was sent and electricity was back, someon the Palestinian side then fired seven missiles," he said. "This does not help to bring quiet."
Also Wednesday, Israel Radio reported that Egyptian police forcefully dispersed a protest held in Egypt in support of Gaza Palestinians. Police officers usedtear gas on the crowd and arrested some 500 people, most of them members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Israel is worried about the chaos on the Gaza-Egypt border,and expects Egypt to solve the problem, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Wednesday, several hours after the Gazans poured into Egypt.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel noted that Israel has no forces on the Gaza-Egypt border. Therefore, he said, "It is the responsibility of Egypt toensure that the border operates properly, according to the signed agreements," he said. "We expect the Egyptians to solve the problem. Obviously weare worried about the situation. It could potentially allow anybody to enter." Egyptian border guards and Hamas police took no action as Palestinianshurried over the border and began returning with bags of food, boxes of cigarettes and plastic bottles of fuel.
The chaotic scenes came on the sixth day of a complete closure of Gaza, imposed by Israel and backed by Egypt, in response to a spike in Gaza rocket attacks onIsraeli border towns. Hamas has orchestrated daily demonstrations on the Gaza-Egypt border, in an apparent attempt to appeal to Arab public opinion andpressure Egypt to open the passage.
On Tuesday, Israel eased the closure slightly, transferring fuel to restart Gaza's only power plant, and also sent in some cooking gas, food and medicine.Israel has pledged to continue limited shipments because of concerns that a humanitarian crisis could develop.
Before dawn Wednesday, Palestinian gunmen began blowing holes in the border wall running along the Gaza-Egypt border. Hamas security later closed most holes,but left two open and allowed free traffic through those. Hamas appears to be applying pressure on Egypt, which has cooperated with Israel's sanctions bykeeping the Rafah border closed. By affecting public opinion in Egypt, scenes of privation in Gaza could force Egypt to ease the border closure, allowing theHamas regime to relieve its isolation.