Barak eases clamp on Erez Crossing

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak ordered the army on Wednesday to allow into Israel any of the hundreds of Gazans holed up at a fetid crossing who might desperately need medical treatment.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak ordered the army on Wednesday to allow into Israel any of the hundreds of Gazans holed up at a fetid crossing who might desperately need medical treatment. A teenager with leukemia and two other chronically ill Palestinians were on their way through shortly after, the military said. Additionally, Israeli officials authorised entry of all foreign nationals living in the Hamas-controlled

Gaza Strip.

Israeli aircraft, meanwhile, fired missiles at two rocket launchers in northern Gaza, in the first aerial attack since Islamic Hamas militants took over the coastal strip late last week. No injuries were reported in the strike, which came in retaliation for militant rocket fire on Israel.

Earlier in the day, Israeli tanks entered southern Gaza, and four people, including at least two militants, were killed in an exchange of fire, Palestinian hospital officials said.

About 200 Gazans, petrified by the chaos in the Hamas-controlled coastal strip, have been camped out for six days in a tunnel on the Palestinian side of the Erez crossing with Israel.

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