Egypt knew of Hamas intentions to blow up Rafah border wall, chemicals were used to melt it

Date: 24 / 01 / 2008 Time: 10:08

Bethlehem – Ma'an –

Hamas had earlier informed Egypt of its intentions to blow through the border wall between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, the Israeli daily newspaper Maariv claimed on Thursday.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians crossed the border into Egypt on Wednesday after masked Palestinian fighters destroyed a portion of the border wall between Egypt and the Gaza Strip using explosives.

Maariv quoted the British daily newspaper, The Times, as saying that the foundations of the wall were detonated using special chemicals that were able to melt through steel.

For its part, the Israeli daily newspaper of Haaretz revealed on Thursday that it was the Popular Resistance Committees who detonated the wall not Hamas. Hamas did not intervene despite the fact that they knew about it.

Haaretz added that Egyptian residents lving close to the wall had been informed in advance to avoid casualties.

In the same regard, Egyptian security sources mentioned that the Egyptian authorities closed the As-Salam Bridge over the Suez Canal to stop tens of thousands of Gaza Strip residents from going on to Cairo after they crossed onto the Sinai Peninsula.

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