Palestinian citizens stranded at the Egyptian side of the Rafah border terminal declared on Sunday that they had entered the second stage of their hunger strike, which started two days earlier, and would consume water and salt only.
The abandoned civilians said in a statement that the step followed the deterioration of their humanitarian and psychological conditions after being stuck at the border crossing for more than four weeks.
They asked the media to shed light on their issue and to inquire about their conditions on a daily basis.
More than 6,000 Palestinians are trapped at the borders under tragic living conditions.
A number of them have died while hundreds of others are suffering after returning from medical treatment but have been prevented from going back to their homes in Gaza.
Israeli troops have closed the Rafah terminal since June 26 last year after the capture of an Israeli serviceman in Gaza.
They have only allowed its operation at separate intervals but since June 9 this year, when Hamas took over control of Gaza security, Israel Occupation Forces (IOF) troops completely sealed off the terminal.
Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniya has called for a united Arab stand demanding the reopening of the Rafah terminal for the thousands of stranded Palestinians and for ending international observation on it.
Haniya’s call came in a message to Amr Mousa, the Arab League secretary general, on Saturday in which he briefed the Arab official on the suffering of Palestinians as a result of the constant closure of all Gaza crossings especially the Rafah terminal.
He said that eleven trapped Palestinians have so far died at the crossing and many others are likely to meet the same fate if the crossing remained closed.
He said that the crossing should serve as a pure Egyptian-Palestinian border point with no international supervision or mediation.
The premier affirmed that his government was committed to operating the crossing in accordance with international laws governing international border crossings.
For his part, MP Sa’eed Siyam, the leader of the Hamas-affiliated change and reform parliamentary bloc, said that closure of the Rafah crossing was effected at the hands of Palestinians.
This was in reference to the reports that Palestinian National Authority (PNA) President Mahmud Abbas was asking concerned parties to keep the terminal closed in a bid to pressure Hamas after taking security control of the Gaza Strip.
The Jerusalem Post reported on Sunday that Israel and the PNA are working together with the United Nations to increase the flow of goods into Gaza by making improvements at the Kerem Shalom crossing into the southern Strip.
Until the Hamas takeover of Gaza last month, Israel and the Fatah-controlled PNA security forces had manned the Karni crossing in the central Gaza City and the Erez crossing in the north.
But since June 12, Karni, which was the main route for commercial traffic into Gaza, has been closed for everything except for wheat.
The Israeli paper said that the Erez crossing has been open for medical supplies and limited pedestrian traffic.
It added that unable to fully reopen the two crossings in the absence of Fatah or an alternative Palestinian counterparty, Israel has relied on two secondary passages at Sufa and Kerem Shalom, both in the south, to allow humanitarian aid such as food staples and animal feed into Gaza.
Neither Sufa nor Kerem Shalom, however, have anything near Karni’s capacity.
It reported that on last Thursday night, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said, ‘The UN, PNA and Israel are working together to increase the capacity of the (Kerem Shalom) crossing by opening two conveyor belts and increasing the hard stand area for truck-transfer operations.’
However, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum warned: ‘We are against opening the Zionist-controlled crossing of Kerem Shalom.
‘This is a conspiracy against our people by Israel and the pro-American leadership in Ramallah.’
Meanwhile, Dr. Aziz Dwaik, the Palestine Legislative Council (PLC) speaker, and other MPs detained in Israeli occupation jails have condemned the measures adopted by the so-called emergency government of Abbas appointed premier Salam Fayyad topped by annulling decision of previous governments.
The detained lawmakers in a message said that the illegal ‘emergency government’s’ decision to sack employees, appointed since Hamas formed its government, involved civil servants in political wrangling.
They described such a decision as ‘oppressive’ and rejected.
They called on all deputies, forces, factions and independent figures to champion a return to serious, comprehensive national dialogue at once, and urged Abbas to listen to the voice of reason and not to bow to US and Israeli pressures.
The MPs also lashed out at the campaign of arrests and storming of houses launched by masked, armed men in the name of PNA security apparatuses, which included storming the homes of Dr Dwaik and MPs Hassan Yousef and Ahmed Al-Haj.
The ‘unconstitutional emergency government’ headed by Salam Fayyad ‘is illegal, undemocratic and a result of wrong reaction,’ Hamas said in a statement.
Hamas believes that since this government is still there, ‘the internal rift will get worse, and thus Israel and America will be more satisfied,’ highlighting that the only way out of this current crisis is returning to the dialogue table based on the national agreement and Makkah accord.
In the statement, Hamas reiterated that its legitimacy is the outcome of the ballot boxes.
Regarding the controversial edicts issued by President Abbas, the movement described them as ‘unacceptable’ and ‘unsuitable’ to be applied on the ground.
Regarding the continuing attacks against Hamas members and institutions by Abbas’ militia, Hamas called upon Abbas to give immediate orders to his security apparatuses to stop their arbitrary campaigns against the Movement and its institutions, and to release immediately all those being brutally tormented in his jails atop of whom is MP Ahmed Dawlah, who was kidnapped and held in Junaid prison several days ago.
In another development, the online version of the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot revealed on Sunday morning that a secret meeting was held a few days ago between Salam Fayyad and the new Israeli war minister Ehud Barak during which they discussed the support and facilities that the Israeli Army intends to provide Abbas’ government in the West Bank in an effort to strengthen its position.
Israeli premier Ehud Olmert had already set conditions for granting Abbas’ government ‘facilities’ topped by not returning to dialogue with Hamas in addition to working against the Palestinian resistance factions in the West Bank.