AT LEAST 38 members of the Egyptian security forces were taken to hospital, some in critical condition, as they attempted to restore control over the chaotic frontier with the Gaza Strip.
Egyptian riot police and armoured vehicles restricted Gaza motorists to a small area of Egypt yesterday as cross-border confrontations intensified.
The move came after the border was breached by Hamas militants last week.
Egyptian foreign minis
ter Ahmed Aboul Gheit complained of "provocations" at the border, a thinly veiled reprimand of Hamas, and said that while Egypt is ready to ease the suffering of Gazans, this should not endanger Egyptian lives.
Gheit said up to 12 riot police and 26 border guards, including two senior officers, were in hospital, some in danger of losing their lives, due to "actions by Palestinian elements" since Friday.
"These provocations cause us concern and our Palestinian brothers should note that the Egyptian decision to host them and ease their suffering should not result in threats to the lives of our sons in the Egyptian forces," he said.
In the West Bank, meanwhile, moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stuck to his tough conditions for resuming contact with Gaza's Hamas rulers, dimming prospects for Egypt's proposal to have the two Palestinian rivals come to Cairo for talks on resolving the border crisis.
Earlier, Hamas had accepted Egypt's proposal, and Hamas hard-liner Sami Abu Zuhri accused Abbas of trying to bypass Hamas. "His statements are a rejection of the Egyptian initiative," Abu Zuhri said.
Abbas reiterated yesterday that he would only talk to Hamas if it retreats from its June takeover of Gaza.
On the Gaza-Egypt border, traffic of cars and pedestrians remained heavy yesterday, four days after Hamas militants blew down the border wall, sending hundreds of thousands of Gazans rushing into Egypt.
In an attempt to restore some control, Egyptian armoured vehicles blocked the main street of the Egyptian border town of Rafah, causing a snarled traffic jam of honking cars filled with Gazans shopping for fuel, food and consumer products.
The full article contains 346 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
