debkafile: Egyptian troops give way as more than 350,000 Palestinians surge across Gaza-Sinai crossing. No bar to arms smuggling

debkafile: Egyptian troops give way to massive Hamas pressure on Gaza- Sinai crossing
Hamas carried out its threat, reported by debkafile Sunday, to smash its way through the border from Gaza to Egyptian Sinai. Before dawn, Wednesday, Jan. 23, masked men blew up sections of the concrete border wall at the Rafah crossing. Thousands of Palestinians swarmed through as Egyptian border troops, reinforced overnight, fell back.
Tuesday, Hamas built up the pressure by sending thousands of women “demonstrators,” to batter the Rafah crossing. They clashed with Egyptian border troops who opened fire and used night sticks to beat them off. About 70 people were injured in the clash, including Egyptian police.
debkafile‘s counter-terror sources report: Hamas’ success in seizing the Gaza border with Egypt and its Rafah terminal is a big one up in their contest with Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority, after driving his forces out of Gaza last year and evicting them from administration of its crossings.
It also voids the Israel-Egyptian security accords signed when Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip in 2005, under which Cairo undertook to control movements out of Gaza assisted by international monitors.

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