By Xinhua
Cairo : Egyptian border guards on Friday moved to close the Egypt-Gaza borders but more Palestinians crossed into Egypt as a bulldozer knocked over a new section of the border wall separating Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
A large number of Palestinians rushed into the Egyptian side of Rafah crossing town after the bulldozer wrecked a section of the border fence along the borders at the small town, the pan-Arab television al-Jazeera reported.
Egyptian border guards shot in the air in an attempt to hinder the flow of Palestinians into Egypt as the bulldozer breached the border wall at the small town where more Palestinians are gathering in the streets and trying to cross into Egypt.
Small scale clashes briefly erupted when large numbers of Palestinians scrambled to cross the Rafah border fence into Egypt, the Egyptian official MENA news agency reported.
Palestinian militants assaulted Egyptian soldiers and opened fire, injuring two officers and eight soldiers as Egyptian forces were trying to keep order, said MENA.
An Egyptian security source urged the Palestinians to deal with the situation reasonably and to show appreciation to Egyptian border guards who followed directives of the Egyptian leadership to allow the Palestinians into Egypt to stock up food and fuel.
However, Egyptian police with riot shields are in high alert, trying to organize the crossing of the Palestinians into the Egyptian side of Rafah, the only gateway for Gazans to the outside world bypassing Israeli territory.
Earlier in the day, Egyptian security forces announced that the borders with Gaza would be closed at local time 3:00 p.m. (1300 GMT), but the situation has become more difficult to control as more Palestinians crossed into Egypt after the new breaches on the border fence.
TV footage showed that small scale chaos occurred as Egyptian troops fired water cannons above the heads of the gathering people to keep them back.
Some people were hurt when clashes erupted between Egyptian riot police and Palestinians after some Palestinians hurled stones at the Egyptian troops.
The Egyptian forces with riot shields had formed a human wall blocking more Palestinians from entering the Egyptian side of the border town, but in vain.
According to the TV footage, several trucks of Egyptian riot police were carried to the border area for reinforcement in the afternoon.
On Thursday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak asserted his country’s resolve to support the Palestinians and their just cause, a day after the Palestinians in the sieged Gaza Strip forcibly swarmed into Egypt via Rafah border crossing.
After the Rafah crossing was forcibly opened, Israel held Egypt responsible.
“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.
On Wednesday morning, Palestinian militants blew up holes in the concrete wall separating southern Gaza and Egypt, which allowed destitute Gazans to pour into Egypt to purchase daily necessities as the hope to lift Gaza siege faded.
Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki told Xinhua Thursday by phone that more than 300,000 Palestinians had entered the Egyptian side of Rafah crossing to buy food, fuel and other basic needs.
He said that the Egyptian security forces did not interfere with the Palestinians, but only directed the traffic back to Gaza at the border.