By Xinhua
Jerusalem : Israel is worried about the chaos on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, and expects Egypt to solve the problem, Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said Wednesday.
The comment came several hours after thousands of Gazans poured into Egypt after parts of the fence wall at the Gaza-Egypt border were blew up by Gaza militants.
“It is the responsibility for Egypt to ensure that the border operates properly, according to the signed agreements,” Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said.
“We expect the Egyptians to solve the problem. Obviously we are worried about the situation. It could potentially allow anybody to enter,” Mekel told reporters.
Earlier in the day, militants from Hamas’ armed wing blew up fence walls at the borders between the southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, which allowed thousands of Gazans to flock into the Egyptian side, witnesses and security sources said.
Local witnesses told Xinhua that they also saw bulldozers starting to remove barbed wires on the borders as well as the rubbles of the cement and blocks fence after more than 15 big holes were opened in the fence wall.
Palestinian security sources said that thousands of Gaza Strip residents crossed into Egypt to buy their needs of basic foods, medicines, clothes and cigarettes.
It was the second time in two years that Palestinians destroy the fence wall at the borders with Egypt. In September 2005 after Israel pulled out from the Gaza Strip, thousands Gazans crossed into Egypt.
The border wall tear-down came after Israel’s decision to slightly ease the blockade against the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, which is home to nearly 1.5 million residents.
The coastal enclave heavily depends on outside aid inflow of almost everything, from basic foodstuffs to medicine.
But on Jan. 17, Israel decided to tighten a siege that has been imposed on Gaza since mid-June last year and close all crossings leading to Gaza.
Since then, Israel has been barring fuels and basic food products from reaching the Gaza Strip, in retaliation to ongoing makeshift rocket attacks carried out by Palestinian militants from Gaza against Israel.
Israel’s tightened siege has pushed the strip to the brink of a humanitarian crisis.
On Tuesday morning, the Gaza Strip received five fuel tankers, which temporarily eased a humanitarian crisis emerging after five days of crossing closure by Israel.
Four of the tankers were loaded with diesel to go to Gaza’s sole power station and the fifth carried cooking gas, Gaza officials said, adding that the four tanks of fuel could barely keep the power plant working for less than one week.
The lack of fuel had forced Gaza’s only power plant to shut down on Sunday, leaving the Hamas-run enclave dependant on some 140 megawatts of electricity that Israel and Egypt provide.
Earlier on Monday evening, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak decided to slightly ease the siege on Gaza and to allow medical supplies and a minimal amount of diesel fuel for the power plant in Gaza.