Out-In-The-Cold: Border shooting as Israel blocks Haniya from Gaza (Roundup)

Tel Aviv - Eight people were wounded when dozens of armed supporters of the radical Islamic Hamas movement stormed the Rafah crossing point on the Gaza-Egypt border Thursday, witnesses reported.

They said the action was in response to a decision by Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz to close the crossing to prevent Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya from smuggling large sums of money into the salient as he returned from a foreign trip. Israeli reports said he had 35 million dollars.

Israeli security officials were quoted as saying that the decision to close the crossing was not intended to prevent Haniya himself from returning to Gaza after his two-week tour, but only to prevent him from bringing cash, believed to have been obtained from Iran, into the Gaza Strip.

Haniya had to cut short his foreign trip after Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Lebanon refused official meetings with him, government sources in Gaza said Wednesday.

The Hamas politician wanted to travel back to the Gaza Strip via the Egyptian capital Cairo after visiting several Arab countries and Iran to bolster support for the Palestinians and his policies.

Palestinian government ministers and officials have previously returned from trips abroad with millions of dollars in cash in an attempt to circumvent the political and economic boycott imposed on Haniya's Hamas-led government because of its refusal to recognize Israel.