By Xinhua
Gaza : A senior Islamist Hamas official has said that blowing up the border fence between Gaza Strip and Egypt is one step towards ending the seven-month-long Israeli blockade on the enclave.
Mohamed al-Ghoul, head of the legal committee in parliament, Thursday declined in statements that his movement was responsible for blowing up the metal and cement border fence with Egypt.
However, witnesses in the southern Gaza town of Rafah confirmed that they saw al-Qasam Brigades, Islamic Hamas movement’s militants, were planting explosives under the fence and blew up part of it.
“Blowing up the fence, which is part of a popular pressure by the residents, is a first step towards ending the blockade,” al-Ghoul said, adding: “What is needed now is to rearrange the issue legally without Israel’s interference.”
On Wednesday, thousands of Palestinians crossed from the Gaza Strip into Egypt after Hamas militants detonated bombs under the cement fence on the borders and destroyed part of it.
“The blowing up of the borders is the start of reinforcing Palestinian-Egyptian sovereignty on Rafah crossing without any Israeli involvement,” al-Ghoul said.
He added, “The crossing should be officially opened by both Egyptians and the Palestinians to organise the movement of people and goods. The crossing and the borders must be only for Palestinians and Egyptians.”
Meanwhile, Nemer Hammad, an aide to President Mahmoud Abbas called on Hamas movement to leave the Rafah Crossing and border areas as soon as possible.
“What happened at the borders with Egypt can never be called a success, it is a great failure of Hamas.
“Hamas should admit that even after seven months it had failed to rule the Gaza Strip,” Hammad said in a press statement Thursday.