RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Hamas loyalists and Egyptian troops opened fire along Gaza’s border Wednesday, leaving an Egyptian soldier dead and more than a dozen Gazans hurt in the bloodiest clash between the two sides in a year.
Accompanied by a barrage of rocks, the shooting underlined the mounting tensions over Egypt’s construction of an underground steel wall that could seal Gaza’s southern border, block hundreds of smuggling tunnels and deprive Gaza’s Hamas rulers of their only lifeline.
Hamas is trying to rally Arab and Muslim public opinion against the barrier it has dubbed the “death wall.” Hamas-allied Muslim clerics have denounced the wall as “haram,” or forbidden by Islam, and protesters picketed Egyptian embassies in Lebanon and Jordan this week.
Egypt, meanwhile, is adopting an increasingly defiant stance, saying that securing its border with Gaza is a matter of national security. In the past, Egypt had been less unequivocal and tried to play down its role, alongside Israel, in enforcing Gaza’s border blockade.
Wednesday’s clashes began when several hundred Hamas supporters waving green Hamas flags marched toward Egyptian border fortifications to protest the wall construction and Egyptian restrictions on an international aid convoy led by British legislator George Galloway.
A senior Hamas official, Munir al-Masri, told the protesters that Egypt’s actions were shameful. Moments later, people in the crowd started to throw rocks at Egyptian border guards. At some point, Hamas police fired shots to disperse the crowd, and shots were also heard from the Egyptian side of the border. It was unclear who fired first.
Gunshots killed a 21-year-old Egyptian border guard stationed in a watch tower, according to the Egyptian news agency. Seven Palestinians were also hit by gunfire, including three who were seriously wounded, Palestinian hospital doctors said. It was the worst violence on the border since an Egyptian major was killed by Palestinian gunmen during Israel’s offensive on the Gaza Strip in December 2008.
The international aid convoy of more than 500 activists, led by Galloway, entered Gaza from Egypt late Wednesday after a month on the road.
The convoy was organized by the British-based group Viva Palestina, which planned to deliver hundreds of tons of aid in 200 vehicles.
On Tuesday, Egypt told the activists that 45 vehicles would have to stay behind. Clashes erupted between members of the convoy and Egyptian riot police in the Egyptian Mediterranean port city of El-Arish, and dozens of protesters and police were injured.
