Tens of thousands of Palestinians flood into Egypt through breached Gaza wall

RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Tens of thousands of Palestinians poured into Egypt from Gaza Wednesday after masked gunmen used land mines to blast down a seven-mile barrier dividing the border town of Rafah.

Men and women walked unhindered or rode in donkey carts over the toppled corrugated metal along sections of the barrier, carrying goats, chickens and crates of Coca-Cola. Some brought back televisions, car tires and cigarettes and one man even bought a motorcycle. Vendors sold soft drinks and baked goods to the crowds.

They were stocking up on goods made scarce by an Israeli blockade of their impoverished territory since last week and within hours, shops on the Egyptian side of the divided border town of Rafah had run out of stock.

Ibrahim Abu Taha, 45, a Palestinian father of seven, was in the Egyptian section of Rafah with his two brothers and $185 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 the basic foods in Gaza, but at three times the cost.

Police from the militant Islamic group Hamas, which controls Gaza, directed the traffic. Egyptian border guards took no action.

"Freedom is good. We need no border after today," said unemployed 29-year-old Mohammed Abu Ghazal.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told reporters in Cairo 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," he said.

No starvation has been reported in Gaza. But many of the 1.5 million residents have faced critical shortages of electricity, fuel and other supplies over months because Gaza has been virtually sealed since Hamas seized control of the territory by force in June.

"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," Mubarak said.

Egypt has largely kept its border with Gaza closed since the Hamas takeover amid concerns of a spillover of Hamas-style militancy into Egypt. But Egypt's government is also under popular pressure at home to help the impoverished Gazans.

Egyptian public opinion is sympathetic to the Palestinians, and most political analysts believe Mubarak's regime would face a serious crisis if its forces opened fire on Palestinians during a border melee.