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Israel steps up border security
25/02/2008 07:25 - (SA)
Jerusalem - Israel took precautions on Monday to keep a Hamas demonstration against its blockade of Gaza from turning into a mass breakout like last month's storming of the Gaza-Egypt border.
Hamas planned to send thousands of civilians in the direction of the Erez crossing between Israel and Gaza on Monday, protesting chronic shortages of vital supplies in Gaza because of the Israeli restrictions.
Israeli defence officials said they were taking steps to keep Palestinians from flooding into Israel, though they discounted rumours that Hamas would encourage the demonstrators to try to break down the border crossing.
Last month Hamas militants knocked down the wall between Gaza and Egypt with explosives, and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians raced across the border, flooding Egyptian towns and buying everything in sight.
It was a taste of freedom after months of shortages because of the Israeli blockade, imposed after the militant Islamic Hamas overran Gaza last June, expelling Fatah forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The blockade was tightened last month after an upsurge in daily rockets attacks on Israel from Gaza.
Egypt reclosed the border after about two weeks.
Police to back up soldiers
Israel Radio reported that thousands of police with non-lethal crowd control devices would back up soldiers along the Israel-Gaza border during the demonstration on the other side. Israeli leaders said they would not allow Palestinians to enter their country.
An Israeli airstrike just after midnight on Monday in southern Gaza killed two Hamas militants and wounded three, according to Hamas and Palestinian medical officials. The Israeli military said an aircraft targeted a group of gunmen spotted in the area. Hours later, a second airstrike killed a third Hamas gunman and wounded two others, Hamas said. The military confirmed the attack.
On Sunday, the Israeli military said its forces operating in southern Gaza discovered five smuggling tunnels. Soldiers detained 40 Palestinians for questioning.
- AP
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