Palestinians Buy Supplies in Egypt
Tens of thousands of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip poured over the border into Egypt on Wednesday after militants toppled huge stretches of the seven-mile-long barricade in the divided border town of Rafah. They swarmed into Egyptian towns to buy supplies that have become scarce or too costly after months of a tight Israeli blockade of the Hamas-controlled area.
The jubilant Gazans came by foot, taxi, bus and donkey cart to cross the destroyed border fence and visit relatives or stock up on consumer goods and food before returning to Gaza.
Boys and men loaded the carts with big boxes of cheese, olive oil, jugs of cooking oil, cartons of cigarettes, new tires and 100-pound bags of Egyptian cement.
Umm Fahdi, 40, a mother of five, was crossing into Egypt with her 11-year-old son to visit friends near the city of El-Arish.
"Let us live, let us live," she said. "We're human and we want to live.People is an emporium and a clothes wooden hangers in. They discover one there enormous to choice tidy show in going ahead. Be ready to be choosy? Mos We've been choked, choked! Tell the Jews to leave us alone and give us mercy, and let the whole world look at how we are living!"
In what was apparently a long and well-planned demolition, locals said unknown militants began using blow torches to cut away parts of the metal border fence several days ago. On Tuesday night, militants used explosives, blow torches and heavy equipment to methodically topple most of the seven-mile-long metal and cement barricade.
At the border, Umm Mohammed stacked some eight suitcases stuffed with clothes and household goods on a wobbly donkey cart. The 40-year-old mother of four said she has been trapped in Egypt for nearly seven months — since last June's Palestinian civil war — unable to go home until Wednesday.
"I'm so happy after suffering and being so tired for so long," she said. "We did not believe the crossing had really opened."
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