The United States said Thursday that the militant Hamas might smuggle in arms and other materials through the broken border of Gaza and Egypt.
"We understand and also appreciate the fact that Hamas is trying to take advantage of this incident to use it not only to let individual Gazans try and purchase consumer goods on the other side of the border, but potentially to smuggle in arms and other materials to support their fighters," State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said.
"And that is something that we and the Egyptians are concerned about," Casey said.
The United States will continue to work on this issue and discuss it with the Egyptians, as well as with the Israelis and the Palestinian Authority government, Casey said, adding that there should be an appropriately secured international border between Gaza and Egypt.
Militants from Hamas' armed wing blew up fence walls at the borders between the southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, which allowed thousands of Gazans to flock into the Egyptian side, witnesses and security sources said Wednesday.
Palestinian security sources said that thousands of Gaza Strip residents crossed into Egypt to buy their needs of basic foods, medicines, clothes and cigarettes.
It was the second time in two years that Palestinians destroy the fence wall at the borders with Egypt. In September 2005 after Israel pulled out from the Gaza Strip, thousands Gazans crossed into Egypt.
The border wall tear-down came after Israel's decision to slightly ease the blockade against the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, which is home to nearly 1.5 million residents.
Source:Xinhua
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