The Erez border crossing, the only land crossing for the movement of people between the Gaza Strip and Israel or the West Bank, will not be opened on Sunday, Israeli authorities announced amid stalled efforts to establish calm along the Israel-Gaza border.
The impetus for the decision, officials explained, was the violent Palestinian demonstration at the border on Friday, in which some 20,000 people hurled rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops under the cover of thick smoke from burning tires, witnesses said.
Israeli forces responded with tear gas and sporadic live fire. Medics said Israeli gunfire killed two men and wounded at least 270 other Palestinians.
The violence erupted Friday despite ongoing efforts by Egyptian mediators to clinch a truce deal that would calm the impoverished enclave.
Last week, after a more than four-month surge in violence along the Gaza Strip border, Israel eased its clampdown on the enclave's commercial traffic and fishing. The clashes included sporadic rocket and mortar fire into Israel, unrelenting arson attacks on Israeli communities and retaliatory air strikes on Hamas terror targets in the Strip.
Cairo said it was finalizing details of a long-term accommodation between Israel and the ruling Islamist group Hamas.
Following Friday's clashes, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit issued a statement asserting that "thousands of Palestinians and rioters gathered in the Gaza Strip, many of them deep within the territory. Several firebombs and homemade explosives were hurled across the border fence. No one was hurt and there was no damage. Several suspects were seen crossing the border into Israel and immediately turning back. IDF troops responded with riot dispersal measures and live fire in adherence with the rules of engagement."
Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar attended a number of riot flashpoints along the border on Friday. Another top Hamas official, Khalil al-Hayya, said in an interview with Lebanon-based pan-Arab satellite media outlet Al Mayadeen that "We are in the final stretch of the efforts to achieve calm. The conversation is currently focused on the truce outlined at the end of the 2014 war. We strongly support a truce so that the people of Gaza can live in dignity and continue with the struggle."
However, another Hamas official involved in the Egyptian-mediated negotiations in Cairo noted that "we have completed a round of consultations with the various Palestinian factions regarding a truce and reconciliation. We insist that all the steps will be taken within a national capacity. We presented our position in regard to the truce and we listened to ideas and important comments from the faction heads. The efforts will resume after the [Eid al-Adha] holiday."
The Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday ends Saturday.
