Hamas militants blew a gaping hole on Wednesday in a concrete barrier on the Gaza Strip’s southern border, enabling Palestinians to continue surging into Egypt despite pledges to restore order.
Under pressure from Israel, Egyptian authorities set a new deadline for all Palestinians to return to the Gaza side while revealing that they had uncovered a weapons-filled tunnel on the border.
A series of giant concrete blocks was placed on the Rafah crossing overnight in an attempt to put a lid on chaos in which thousands of Gaza residents have crossed the border since Israel left the territory on Monday.
But hundreds of people continued to scramble across the divided border town on Wednesday after Hamas detonated landmines next to the concrete slabs separating Palestinian Rafah from Egypt, blowing a hole through which people could clamber with ease.
Some teenagers could also be seen lacing rope over a different section of the wall, enabling people to hoist themselves on to the Egyptian side. Others could be seen squeezing through tiny portholes in the metal section of the border.
A single Egyptian soldier looked on helplessly as Palestinians continued to head south, loaded down with suitcases.
Amid the mayhem, Hamas militants posed for pictures with visitors from Egypt.
A local Hamas military commander warned the security forces not to try to seal off the border.
”If you close this hole, we will open 10 others,” Abu Attiyah shouted at onlooking Palestinian security officers.
The border was meant to have been sealed overnight, and an Egyptian security official insisted Egypt was enforcing the border closure.
”The border is now sealed but we’re letting Palestinians go home to Gaza, and Palestinian security forces on the other side of the border are letting Egyptians that visited Gaza back into Egypt,” he said.
A security source in Cairo said that Palestinians who had crossed into Egypt had until 3pm GMT on Wednesday to leave.
Police were touring the Egyptian side of Rafah with loudhailers and urging Palestinians to return home voluntarily or face arrest and deportation, he added.
On the other side, the Palestinian security commander for southern Gaza, Colonel Jamal Kayed, had announced that his men would seal the Rafah border with Egypt from midnight 9pm GMT.
But some of his officers on Wednesday denied that they had been given any such orders.
”It’s not our responsibility, it’s the government’s. There are no orders,” said one national security officer who declined to give his full name.
Egypt’s ambassador to Israel vowed that law and order will be maintained on the border.
”Law and order will be maintained. You can only go from one country to another through the appropriate regulations,” Mohammed Asim Ibrahim told public radio, speaking in English.
Israel has repeatedly urged Egypt to restore order, as one official said smugglers were slipping weapons and ammunition into Gaza.
”Egypt is a big country which claims to respect our agreements, but even without this agreement, it is inconceivable that Egypt as a sovereign country does not control its border,” said senior defence ministry official Amos Gilad.
”Some people are taking advantage of what’s going on at the border to smuggle weapons and munitions to the Gaza Strip, which will be used for carrying out attacks but also to challenge the Palestinian Authority,” he warned.
An Egyptian security official said that guards discovered a tunnel filled with weapons on the Gaza border.
”Three rocket-propelled grenade [RPG] launchers, 38 machine guns and 2 800 RPGs were found on Tuesday in a tunnel 4km south of the Rafah crossing terminal,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
It was not immediately possible to establish when the weapons were smuggled across, the source added. — Sapa-AFP