Mass exodus from Gaza as Egypt opens shops

Half the population, 700,000 people, cross over

Rafah, GAZA STRIP (Agencies)

At least 700,000 Gazans have flooded over the border into Egypt over the past two days -- nearly half the territory's population of 1.5 million -- to stock up on supplies after militants blew open the border of the Hamas-run territory.

"Around 400,000 people crossed yesterday and at least 300,000 have crossed so far today," the Cairo director of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees estimated told AFP on Thursday.

Since militants set off explosions bringing down stretches of the walls that mark the border between Gaza and Egypt on Tuesday night, Palestinians have poured across to stock up on supplies made scarce at home by an Israeli blockade imposed last Thursday.

The area where several border walls stood in the town of Rafah less than two days ago resembled a busy bazaar, as under sunny skies crowds took advantage of a rare chance to leave the fenced-off Gaza Strip unhindered.

Stands selling falafel and other fast-food sprouted up to cater to the throngs of shouting, jostling people, intent on buying goods on the Egyptian side a week after Israel imposed a blockade on the impoverished, densely populated territory.

Israeli Blockade

The exodus came a week after Israel imposed a full-scale blockade on Gaza in response to persistent rocket and mortar fire from the territory ruled by Hamas, a group pledged to the destruction of the Jewish state.

Although Israel eased the lockdown on Tuesday amid mounting fears of a humanitarian crisis, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has vowed to keep up the pressure on Gaza as long as militants there continue to fire rockets and mortars into Israel.

Over the past 10 days, Israeli army raids in Gaza have killed more than 40 people, most of them militants, while gunmen have fired more the 200 rockets or mortar rounds into Israel, lightly wounding 10 people.

The violence on both sides markedly subsided in the days after Israel imposed its blockade.

In an opinion poll broadcast by public radio, 63.7 percent of Israelis said they favoured hardening sanctions against Gaza, 22.1 percent want them eased and 10 percent want the current measures to remain in place.

World Condemnation

The U.N. Human Rights Council on Thursday slammed Israel for its actions in Gaza, calling for "urgent international action to put an immediate end to the grave violations committed by the occupying power, Israel, in the occupied Palestinian territory."

Western states took issue with the resolution, arguing it was unbalanced because it made no mention of Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel.

Arab League chief Amr Moussa described the Israeli blockade of the Gaza strip as a "campaign to starve the people."

Speaking on the sidelines of the Davos meeting in Switzerland, he told reporters: "What is happening is the result of a starving campaign…It is a deplorable situation."

Mussa said the Gaza blockade undermined the already struggling peace process after the Middle East peace conference in Annapolis in the United States.

"Two months after Annapolis and not a single issue has been negotiated. In addition to the continuation of building of (Israeli) settlements, which is a killer for the peace process, there is this maltreatment of the population in the Gaza strip…How can we hope for the best?" he said.

Meanwhile, Jordan's King Abdullah II told U.S. President George W. Bush that Israel's blockade threatens peace efforts in the Middle East.

"Israel must refrain from unilateral actions, including the imposition of economic siege and escalation of military operations against the Palestinian people," the palace quoted him as saying in a telephone conversation with Bush.

"These policies threaten to undermine efforts made over the past weeks and months to advance the peace process," a statement said.

The king urged Bush to "maintain the momentum in support of peace in order to achieve a Palestinian-Israeli agreement before the end of the year," the palace added.

On Wednesday, the king called for an end to the blockade, warning that Israel should not expect "serious" peace talks with the Palestinians if it pursued its punitive actions in Gaza.