(dpa) - Egypt sent more security forces to its Rafah crossing border on Thursday, after a senior leader of the Palestinian Hamas movement threatened to storm the border if Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip was not lifted, witnesses and security sources said.
Earlier, Khalil al-Hayya, senior leader of Hamas, threatened that Palestinians might breach the border due to the unbearable situation in Gaza, due to the Israeli blockade on the enclave.
"All options are open to breach this border. Not only the Egyptian border, but other borders as well," al-Hayya said in a news conference.
Responding to the threats, spokesman of Egypt's presidency Soliman Awad said Egypt will not allow further breaching in the Rafah border.
However, a spokesman of Hamas, who appeared on al-Jazeera news channel, denied on Thursday all reports about al-Haya's threats, stressing that "all the information on such threats are imprecise and incorrect."
Al-Haya's statements prompted the Egyptian authorities to send hundred of security forces for additional deployment along the joint border with the Gaza Strip, security sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Palestinians had previously stormed the crossing through holes rammed in the high concrete wall that marks the border with Egypt.
Meanwhile, eye witnesses told dpa that Rafah residents have started to store food products and gasoline for fear that another breakout would occur in the borders.
Witnesses also said that authorities have ordered gas stations to close down in Sheikh Zowaid and Rafah areas, which drove hundreds of drivers to go to gas stations in Arish city.
This development on the border comes as Israel tightens its blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has been enforced since the Islamic militant group Hamas took control of the territory seven months ago.