Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Thousands of Palestinians flock into Egypt after border fence blasted


"RAFAH, (PIC)-- Thousands of Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip flocked into Egypt at dawn Wednesday after unknown armed men blasted holes in the border fence separating the Strip from the Egyptian Sinai peninsula.

Eyewitnesses said that tens of armed men planted explosive devices in separate parts of the border fence and blasted them.

They noted that big portions of the border fence, built by the Israeli forces before withdrawal from the Strip, collapsed as hundreds penetrated into the Egyptian city of Rafah to buy badly needed goods and medicine.

The witnesses pointed out that tens of Palestinians who were stranded at the Egyptian side of the border for many months were able to return to Gaza without any obstacles.

The incident followed Tuesday's demonstration in which thousands of Palestinian women and children headed to the Rafah terminal demanding its immediate opening to allow treatment of the sick and wounded and to allow entry of food supplies to the besieged Strip. The Egyptian border guards used water cannons to disperse them but they managed to break into the Rafah border point before returning to Gaza."

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