Palestinians return to Gaza via Israel

Israel allowed around 100 Palestinians stranded for weeks in Egypt to return to the Hamas-held Gaza Strip through the Jewish state yesterday, the first of some 600 expected to return home in the coming days. Palestinian officials estimate 6,000...

Israel allowed around 100 Palestinians stranded for weeks in Egypt to return to the Hamas-held Gaza Strip through the Jewish state yesterday, the first of some 600 expected to return home in the coming days.

Palestinian officials estimate 6,000 Palestinians have been waiting on the Egyptian side of the border since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction on June 14.

The first 100 Palestinians crossed into Israel from Egypt and were transported through Israel, where they were given food and water, to a key Gaza border crossing.

The Egyptian Red Crescent says roughly 5,000 Palestinians have been stranded in Egypt's Sinai desert since the border's closure June 9, shortly before Hamas Islamists seized Gaza.

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