( dpa )- Thousands of Gaza-Strip Palestinians continued pouring into Egypt Sunday, after Egyptian attempts to seal the border failed.
Palestinians reported however that Egyptian officials had instructed shopkeepers in the town of al- Arish , about 50 kilometres from the Strip, to keep their stores closed, and had also told hotels not to give accommodation to Palestinians.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have flooded into Egypt since militants blew large gaps in the concrete and metal border fence early Wednesday, taking advantage of the breach to buy necessities made scarce by a tight Israeli blockade of the salient.
Israel, which imposed the siege on the Strip in retaliation for an upsurge in militant rocket attacks on towns and villages adjacent to the enclave, fears that militants might exit the salient via the now-porous border and try to enter Israel via the Sinai peninsula.