EL-ARISH, Egypt — More than a thousand Palestinian pilgrims, including members of the militant Hamas group, were put in camps in the northern Sinai on Sunday until a dispute over how they will return to the Gaza Strip is resolved.
The Palestinians arrived in the Egyptian Red Sea port of Nuweiba in southern Sinai on Saturday after completing their pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, but they have refused Egypt’s attempts to have them return to Gaza through the Israeli-controlled Aouja border crossing.
Israel fears that if the pilgrims are allowed to return to Gaza through the direct crossing from Egypt at Rafah — where Israel has no control and where European monitors are not working — Hamas militants might get through and that sympathizers could smuggle cash to the Islamic group in Hamas-controlled Gaza.
But Egypt’s attempts to force the pilgrims to use the Aouja crossing have outraged Hamas supporters in Gaza, who staged large-scale protests Saturday. Hamas fears Israel will arrest its members at the crossing.
More than two dozen buses brought 1,166 Palestinians from Nuweiba to el-Arish, on the Mediterranean coast, 15 miles west of Rafah, the security official said.
Another ferry load of nearly 1,900 more Palestinians at Nuweiba also will be brought to el-Arish, the official said. Egypt has set up 11 temporary camps in El-Arish to house the pilgrims until authorities come up with a solution to the current crisis, the official said.
