Man dies in Gaza border crush
A rush to get through the rarely open Rafah crossing into Egypt leaves one man dead.
Published On 8 Mar 2007
| Your Views |
|
“The land of Israel belongs to both Jews and Palestinians – as long as there are people who reject this fact, the conflict will never be solved” Iskander, Boston, US |
Palestinian security personnel at the crossing lost control of the crowd, which began pushing towards the terminal and throwing stones at the entrance gate, the Associated Press reported a witness as saying.
Security men at the crossing fired into the air, a witness said. Medics said two of the wounded were hit by gunfire.
According to the EU observers, the Rafah crossing has been open less than one-fifth of the time since June 2006.
The fact that the crossing is usually closed leads to massive crowds on the rare occasions Israel opens it.
Also on Thursday, Reuters reported that fighters loyal to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, exchanged gun fire with Palestinian policemen at the Rafah crossing.
Reports said that five people were wounded and three of those wounded were hit by gunfire.
Source: News Agencies