Dozens of Palestinians broke through the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt on Tuesday during clashes between Palestinian protesters and Egyptian security forces, a security source said.
The group managed to get past Egyptian security forces who had retreated from their positions trying to contain the crowd after stones were thrown and gunshots heard from the Palestinian side, the source said.
One Egyptian police officer was injured, while medics on the Palestinian side of the border said that four Palestinians were wounded by gunfire.
Several bloodied people were seen being rushed from the scene and back into Gaza on stretchers, but the extent of their injuries was not immediately clear.
The clashes erupted after a group of about 50 women and youths had to be rounded up and returned to Gaza after they broke through the border crossing, the only one from Gaza that bypasses Israel.
They managed to get through during the confusion following the use of a water cannon to disperse a demonstration by about 1 000 people to open the crossing.
Egyptian state television said the rally was organised by the Islamist Hamas movement, which has controlled Gaza since seizing power last June.
The demonstration came as Israel eased a blockade of the territory on the fifth day of the lockdown by allowing limited deliveries of fuel to enter the impoverished coastal strip.
The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt is the only crossing that bypasses Israel. With only a few exceptions, it has been closed since Hamas seized power.
The crossing was supposed to be staffed by international observers and have cameras running to allow Israel to continue monitoring those passing through.
But it has opened only rarely since Gaza militants captured an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid in the summer of 2006, and the observers withdrew completely after Hamas seized control seven months ago. — Sapa-AFP