RAFAH, Egypt, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Dozens of Palestinians crossed into Egyptian territory from Gaza on Sunday as Egyptian riot police fired in the air to fend them off, witnesses said. Reuters correspondent Yusri Mohamed said he had met several Palestinians on the Egyptian side of the border and they told him they had slipped across at holes in the border wall. It was not immediately clear how the holes appeared in the wall but the exodus began within an hour of Israeli air raids aimed at tunnels along the Egyptian border. Bursts of gunfire were audible by telephone from Rafah as the Egyptian police tried to frighten the Palestinians off. Gaza hospitals said they were treating 10 people wounded by Egyptian police shooting at Rafah. Egypt has been cooperating with Israel for months in the blockade of Gaza, severely restricting the flow of goods and people across the Rafah crossing, Gaza's only access point which is not under direct Israeli control. Egypt reopened the main crossing point on Sunday to let out some of the Palestinians injured in two days of Israeli attacks which have killed nearly 290 people. In January, tens of thousands of Palestinians crossed the border into Egypt after Hamas blew down the wall. It took the Egyptian authorities days to persuade them to leave. (Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza) (Reporting by Yusri Mohamed, Writing by Jonathan Wright)
An Israeli soldier directs a tank at a military staging area just outside the northern Gaza Strip December 28, 2008. Israel pounded Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip from the air ...
