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Tension between Hamas, Egypt flares as border clashes erupt

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-01-07 09:34
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Egypt has not officially announced that it is building a steel barrier under its borders with Gaza, however, Egyptian government officials said it is Egypt's right to defend its borders and protect its national security.

Meanwhile, Hamas movement in Gaza slammed Egypt on Wednesday following clashes on Tuesday night between the Egyptian police and the international Humanitarian convoy.

Gaza-based Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a statement that Egyptian police's attack on the Gaza aid convoy "is an attack on more than 40 Arab, Islamic and European countries represented by the convoy."

Several protesters and police officers were injured in the clashes on Tuesday night, said local media reports in Gaza.

The reports quoted witnesses as saying that Egyptian police threw stones at the crowd and arrested seven demonstrators.

The witnesses added that the Egyptian police fired water cannon to disperse the crowd that gathered to receive the aid trucks.

"This attack is an evidence that the issue is related to tightening the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip for more than three years," said Barhoum.

Tension between Hamas, Egypt flares as border clashes erupt
Palestinian demonstrators on the Gaza side threw stones at the Egyptian border guards during a rally against the closure of Rafah border crossing at southern Gaza strip, Jan. 6, 2010. An Egyptian soldier was shot dead by a Palestinian sniper on borders with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Egypt's Nile TV reported.[Xinhua]Tension between Hamas, Egypt flares as border clashes erupt


He added that the members of the convoy "came to defy the unfair blockade, and the Egyptian police's attack was made in order to prevent those people who came to express solidarity with us from defying Gaza blockade."

Israel has been imposing a tight blockade on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip since Gaza militants captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in a cross-border raid in June 2006.

Israel and Egypt sealed off their borders with Gaza in June 2007 when Islamic Hamas movement took over Gaza from security forces loyal to the Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Egypt has also kept its Rafah border crossing with Gaza largely closed.

Tension between Hamas, Egypt flares as border clashes erupt

Palestinian demonstrators on the Gaza side threw stones at the Egyptian border guards during a rally against the closure of Rafah border crossing at southern Gaza strip, Jan. 6, 2010. An Egyptian soldier was shot dead by a Palestinian sniper on borders with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Egypt's Nile TV reported.[Xinhua]Tension between Hamas, Egypt flares as border clashes erupt


 

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