Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has claimed he will not allow a humanitarian crisis to develop in the Gaza Strip, despite his country's embargo on the impoverished region.
"We will not permit, under any circumstances or conditions, a humanitarian crisis to develop," Mr Olmert said hours after tens of thousands of Gazans, challenging an Israeli blockade, forced their way into Egypt to seek essential supplies.
"We will not harm the supply of food for children, medicine for those who need it and fuel for institutions that save lives. But there is no justification for demanding we allow residents of Gaza to live normal lives while shells and rockets are fired from their streets and courtyards at Sderot and other communities in the south."
The fall of the Rafah wall damaged efforts by Israel, under frequent rocket attack from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, to keep pressure on the territory in the face of an international outcry over shortages and Palestinian hardship.
The movement of people into the Egyptian part of Rafah also forced Israel into a diplomatic balancing act with its first Arab peace partner.
Egypt proposed that it take a new look, with Israel and the Palestinian Authority, at how to reactivate their border agreement, the Foreign Ministry in Cairo said.
