RAFAH, Gaza Strip (Agencies)
Egypt set a deadline Friday for the border with Gaza to be resealed after Washington said it was looking to Cairo to put a stop to the uncontrolled flood of people of the past three days.
Egyptian security forces fired water cannons at those trying to force their way across the Gaza-Egypt border, warning over loudspeakers the border would close later Friday.
The security forces announced by loudspeaker in towns near the border with the Gaza Strip that the frontier would be closed from 13:00 GMT, witnesses said, with an unknown number of Palestinians still in Egypt.
A security source told AFP the deadline was intended to give the hundreds of thousands of Gazans who have crossed over since militants blew holes in the border fence in the divided frontier town of Rafah on Tuesday night sufficient time to return home.
Dozens of Egyptian police also deployed around the main crossing point in the concrete border wall.
They blocked the path of Palestinians trying to pass through the breach in the Salaheddin Gate neighborhood to the Egyptian side, but allowed free passage in the other direction.
Some Palestinians threw stones at the police, while bursts of automatic gunfire were heard nearby, a security source said.
Security sources, however, told Reuters that Egyptian forces still did not have direct orders to fully close the border at any specific time, and a similar announcement made by loudspeakers on Thursday evening to close the border had not been carried out.
"Palestinian brothers, quickly return to the border. The border will close at 3 p.m.," police announced on a loudspeaker mounted to a car at the border. Similar announcements were being made by loudspeaker in the coastal town of el-Arish.
Security sources said Egyptian security men were trying to block Palestinians from entering at all, apart from one border point in Rafah, two days after Palestinians blasted open the border in defiance of an Israeli blockade.
However, with several hundred meters (yards) of wall destroyed in Tuesday's demolition, Palestinians continued to cross into Egypt unimpeded through other minor openings. |
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Abbas, Olmert meet The United Nations said at least 700,000 Gazans have poured into Egypt to stock up on desperately needed supplies since the border was blasted open on Tuesday -- nearly half the territory's population of 1.5 million.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earlier called on Egypt to control its border as Israel defended its week-old Gaza lockdown that has raised fears of a humanitarian crisis in the impoverished Hamas-ruled territory.
"I understand it is a difficult situation for them (Egypt)," Rice said after arriving in Colombia for meetings.
"But it is an international border, it needs to be protected and I believe that the Egyptians understand the importance of doing that."
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas plan to meet on Sunday to discuss how to push forward with peace talks, Israeli officials said.
"Efforts are being made in order to bring about a meeting between Abbas and Olmert on Sunday," said Israeli government spokesman David Baker, declining further comments.
Other Israeli officials said the meeting would take place in (Occupied) Jerusalem and focus on the situation along the Egyptian border, which Hamas militants blasted open earlier this week. |
