Pat Dollard | Young Americans

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Thousands of Palestinians poured out of the Gaza Strip and into Egypt early Wednesday after masked gunmen blew dozens of holes in the border wall, witnesses and Hamas security officials said.

Egyptian guards took no action as the Gazans rushed to buy food, fuel and other supplies that have become scarce in Gaza because of an Israeli blockade, the witnesses and officials said. Police from Hamas, which rules Gaza, also stood by.

Israel transferred fuel to restart Gaza’s only electricity plant Tuesday, easing its five-day blockade of the Palestinian territory amid growing international concern about a humanitarian crisis.

But before dawn Wednesday, Palestinian gunmen began blowing holes in the border wall dividing the town of Rafah, which has a Gazan and an Egyptian side. Hamas security later closed all but two but allowed free traffic through them. Gazans began crossing into Egypt and returning with milk, cigarettes and plastic bottles of fuel.

Gazan Ibrahim Abu Taha, 45, a father of seven, was in the Egyptian section of Rafah with his two brothers and $185 in his pocket.

“We want to buy food, we want to buy rice and sugar, milk and wheat and some cheese,” Abu Taha told The Associated Press by telephone, adding that he would also buy cheap Egyptian cigarettes.

Abu Taha said he could get such items in Gaza, but at three times the cost.

Faced with a crippling Israeli blockade, Hamas appears to be applying pressure on Egypt, which has cooperated with Israel’s sanctions by keeping the Rafah border closed. By affecting public opinion in Egypt, scenes of privation in Gaza could force Egypt to ease the border closure, allowing the Hamas regime to relieve its isolation.

An off-duty Hamas security officer who identified himself as Abdel Rahman, 29, said this was his first time out of Gaza.

“I can smell the freedom,” he said by phone. “We need no border after today.”

Abdel Rahman said no weapons were being smuggled in from Egypt.

“You can buy weapons in Gaza, guns and RPGs,” he said, adding that it was easier to find weapons in Gaza than cancer medicine or Coke.

Weapons are generally brought into Gaza through smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border.

The U.S. had warned Israel not to add to the hardship for ordinary Palestinians but blamed the problem on Gaza’s Islamic Hamas rulers. Israel imposed the siege in response to increasing rocket attacks on its border communities by Gaza militants.

Despite the easing of the closure, Palestinian militants fired 19 rockets toward Israel on Tuesday, the military said, up from just two on Monday.

The lights were back on in most of Gaza City by Tuesday afternoon after a blackout that lasted almost two days. But Gazans still vented their anger.

Hundreds of Hamas supporters briefly broke through the Gaza-Egypt border and clashed with Egyptian riot police who fired in the air, wounding 70 people on both sides. The protesters hurled insults at Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, calling him a coward.

In a clash early Wednesday with Israeli forces near the closed Sufa crossing into Gaza, a Hamas militant was killed, Palestinian officials said. The Israeli military said soldiers exchanged fire with Palestinian militants in the area.

Pictures of blacked-out Gaza City, children marching mournfully with candles and people lining up at closed bakeries evoked urgent appeals from governments, aid agencies and the U.N. for an end to the closure, though Israel maintained all along that Hamas created an artificial crisis.

The Defense Ministry ruled late Tuesday that 60,000 gallons of diesel fuel will be transferred into Gaza daily, but the crossings will remain closed to other goods and people until further notice.

Throughout the closure, which cut power to a third of Gaza’s 1.5 million people, hospitals kept running on generators. But most bakeries shut down, and long lines formed at those that were open. A shipment of cooking gas sent in by Israel on Tuesday sold out in an hour.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni blamed Hamas.

“I am not among those who care whether this or that group fired a rocket,” she told the annual Herzliya Conference on security. “Hamas has control of the territory, and Hamas is responsible.”

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the Bush administration has spoken to Israeli officials “about the importance of not allowing a humanitarian crisis to unfold.” Israeli officials were receptive, she said, adding that she too blames Hamas for the situation.

The International Committee of the Red Cross called for Israel to lift the blockade and prevent a collapse of health and sanitary services.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said the shipments would go on.

“We will continue tomorrow and the coming days to deliver more aid to Gaza until all promised supplies get across,” he said.

Despite the blockade, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he will not pull out of peace talks. Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised President Bush to try to complete a peace accord this year.

“We should intensify our contacts and our meetings to stop the suffering of our people,” Abbas said in his first comment since the latest round of Israel-Hamas fighting erupted last week.

Hamas, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction, is not a party to the talks.

Abbas offered to have his rival West Bank government take control of the Palestinian side of Gaza crossings. Israel’s refusal to deal with Hamas officials contributed to its decision to severely restrict the flow of people and goods in and out of Gaza after Hamas won parliament elections in 2006.

Israel’s deputy defense minister, Matan Vilnai, told The Associated Press the plan was not practical.

“It’s a great idea, but they (the Palestinians) can’t implement it,” he said. Rice said Tuesday the proposal is worth studying.