Gazans spill into Egypt

LM �it sounds like it was quite a scene there, could you describe it for us?� RA �one of the people said that, imagine if you are in a prison for six or seven months, or four years, and suddenly you are able to cross. Someone told me that, I have nothing to do here and I have nothing to do in Egypt, but I come in here to breathe, just to say to my family that I was out of Gaza even for a few minutes. So the frustration is very high, the people are angry, the people are suffering for months under this Israeli blockade and they just want a break.� LM �you can hear some of that emotion in the people’s voices. Let’s hear from a couple of people who were crossing the border today. [sound clip of woman shouting]. Clearly this is a very happy woman. What is she saying?� RA �yeah, she said that god willing I’m going to go give 500 sheckel to my relative, he’s going to meet me up in the border and she seems to be very happy to do that.� LM �let’s listen to a man also crossing today. [sound clip]. What is he saying?� RA �thanks god for this victory, the people are able to go do some shopping, to buy some food, and also some of the sick people have made it to Egypt. I’ve seen a woman, she’s 23 and she was carrying a very big bag, she says I was stuck for one year here, I have to go to Norway to meet my husband, all of my previous attempts failed. So maybe this is the only chance to meet my husband. Another case, like a 50 year old woman was holding her 10 year old daughter in her hand and she said, I will never go back to Gaza before I get a surgery for my daughter, she’s been suffering from heart disease for more than three years now and I couldn’t do the operation in Gaza. So many cases, so many people�the people are very happy there. They want the border to continue open, they have been suffering for many months now of blockade and closer.� LM �And the wall will go up again?� RA �I think so, yes.� LM �Israel is concerned because it doesn’t want any Palestinians with weapons crossing into Egypt and potentially doing harm to Israelis. Have any Palestinians been apprehended with weaponry?� RA �no, we didn’t hear of any illegal activities in this place. Of course maybe there are some people smuggling some weapons from there, but we don’t have to forget there are tunnels connecting Egypt and the Palestinian Territories and when the border is under control and closed, normally the illegal activity is done by tunnels which is more safe for the dealers than to deal with something under the eyes of the Egyptian soldiers who are patrolling along the border.�