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350k palestinians enter egypt for supplies { December 2008 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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Mubarak: Palestinians were allowed into Egypt on my orders
ap and jpost.com staff
THE JERUSALEM POST
Jan. 23, 2008
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza crossed into Egypt on Wednesday after gunmen destroyed about two-thirds of the Gaza-Egypt border wall, most of them returning after stocking up on food and other basic supplies.
UN personnel said they estimated the number of Palestnians who entered Egypt at 350,000. They added that some of those who left for Egypt have already returned to the Gaza Strip.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced that he had ordered his troops to allow Palestinians to cross into Egypt because they were starving.
On Wednesday, Palestinian gunmen blew holes in the wall, and tens of thousands of Gazans trapped in the Strip by a tight blockade poured into Egypt to buy food, fuel and other supplies that have become scarce.
Speaking at the Cairo International Book fair, Mubarak told reporters that when Palestinians began breaking through the Gaza-Egypt border at Rafah in force, he told his men to let them in to buy food before escorting them out.
"I told them to let them come in and eat and buy food and then return them later as long as they were not carrying weapons," he said, in answer to reporters' questions.
Mubarak said his border guards originally had forced back the Gazans on Tuesday.
"But today a great number of them came back because the Palestinians in Gaza are starving due to the Israeli siege. Egyptian troops accompanied them to buy food and then allowed them to return to the Gaza Strip," he added.
Mubarak also criticized Hamas for continuing to fire missiles into Israel, saying that it was not helping the situation. He said that he had been in contact with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and helped convince him to resume fuel shipments into Gaza.
"Although fuel was sent and electricity was back, some on the Palestinian side then fired seven missiles," he said. "This does not help to bring quiet."
Meanwhile, Israel Radio reported that Egyptian police forcefully dispersed a protest held in Egypt in support of Gaza Palestinians. Police officers used tear gas on the crowd and arrested some 500 people, most of them members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Israel is worried about the chaos on the Gaza-Egypt border, and expects Egypt to solve the problem, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Wednesday. The comment came several hours after tens of thousands of Gazans poured into Egypt.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel noted Wednesday that Israel has no forces on the Gaza-Egypt border. Therefore, he said, "It is the responsibility of Egypt to ensure that the border operates properly, according to the signed agreements," he said. "We expect the Egyptians to solve the problem. Obviously we are worried about the situation. It could potentially allow anybody to enter."
Egyptian border guards and Hamas police took no action as Palestinians hurried over the border and began returning with bags of food, boxes of cigarettes and plastic bottles of fuel.
The chaotic scenes came on the sixth day of a complete closure of Gaza, imposed by Israel and backed by Egypt, in response to a spike in Gaza rocket attacks on Israeli border towns. Hamas has orchestrated daily demonstrations on the Gaza-Egypt border, in an apparent attempt to appeal to Arab public opinion and pressure Egypt to open the passage.
On Tuesday, Israel eased the closure slightly, transferring fuel to restart Gaza's only power plant, and also sent in some cooking gas, food and medicine. Israel has pledged to continue limited shipments because of concerns that a humanitarian crisis could develop.
Before dawn Wednesday, Palestinian gunmen began blowing holes in the border wall running along the Gaza-Egypt border. Hamas security later closed most holes, but left two open and allowed free traffic through those.
The wall divides the town of Rafah, which has a Gazan and an Egyptian side.
Gazan Ibrahim Abu Taha, 45, a father of seven, was in the Egyptian section of Rafah with his two brothers and 700 shekels in his pocket. "We want to buy food, we want to buy rice and sugar, milk and wheat and some cheese," Abu Taha said, adding that he would also buy cheap Egyptian cigarettes.
Abu Taha said he could get such basic foods in Gaza, but at three times the cost.
Hamas appears to be applying pressure on Egypt, which has cooperated with Israel's sanctions by keeping the Rafah border closed. By affecting public opinion in Egypt, scenes of privation in Gaza could force Egypt to ease the border closure, allowing the Hamas regime to relieve its isolation.
An off-duty Hamas security officer who identified himself as Abdel Rahman, 29, said this was his first time out of Gaza. "I can smell the freedom," he said. "We need no border after today."
Abdel Rahman said no weapons were being smuggled in from Egypt. "You can buy weapons in Gaza, guns and RPGs," he said, adding that it was easier to find weapons in Gaza than cancer medicine or Coke.
Mekel pledged Tuesday that the shipments would go on. "We will continue [Wednesday] and in the coming days to deliver more aid to Gaza until all promised supplies get across," he said.
The Defense Ministry ruled late Tuesday that 250,000 liters of diesel fuel will be transferred into Gaza daily, but the crossings will remain closed to other goods and people until further notice.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni blamed Hamas for the rocket attacks. "I am not among those who care whether this or that group fired a rocket," she told the annual Herzliya Conference on security Tuesday. "Hamas has control of the territory, and Hamas is responsible."
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