By Xinhua
Ramallah : Blowing up border between Gaza and Egypt by Hamas is aimed at harming ties with Egypt, said acting Palestinian government based in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday.
“We don’t accept that some sides take advantage of the Gaza residents’ hardship and harm the relations with Egypt,” said Ashraf al-Ajrami, Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs in the Palestinian government led by Salam Fayyad.
“The Palestinian government wants to tackle the situation and lift the siege on Gaza by activating the mechanism of pressure on the international community,” al-Ajrami said.
Palestinian militants from Hamas’ armed wing blew up fence walls at the Rafah crossing between the southern Gaza Strip and Egypt on Wednesday morning, allowing thousands of Gazans to throng into the Egyptian side.
Tens of thousands of Gazans, who suffered from Israeli siege since Hamas took over the territory by force in June, flocked to the Sinai peninsula to stock up on food, medicine and furniture.
Later in the day, Ismail Haneya, Prime Minister of the sacked Hamas-led unity government in Gaza, proposed to meet Abbas and Egyptian officials in Cairo to discuss opening Rafah crossing.
Israel ordered the shut-down of the crossings in retaliation to ongoing makeshift rocket attacks carried out by Palestinian militants from Gaza against Israel.