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Last Updated: Feb 18th, 2008 - 18:57:03 |
ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) - Egyptian police have rounded up some 500 Palestinians in north Sinai in the past four days and plan to deport them back into Gaza shortly, Egyptian security sources said on Monday.
The Palestinians are some of at least 3,000 left inside Egypt after hundreds of thousands of Gaza residents crossed the border in January to seek relief from the Israeli blockade.
Egyptian police are holding 500 of the Palestinians at a youth hostel in the provincial capital El Arish in readiness for repatriation, one security source said.
Police have been raiding furnished apartments and chalets in north Sinai in search of Palestinians, the source added.
But other Palestinians are staying with relatives and friends in El Arish, the nearby town of Sheikh Zuweid and in the border town of Rafah, he said.
The Egyptian government held talks last week with the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas, which runs Gaza, but the two sides have not announced any agreement for the border to reopen.
On Sunday Egyptian police found 100 kg (220 lb) of explosives in three sacks buried in sand near Sheikh Zuweid, the security sources added.
Caches of arms and explosives often turn up in the area, some of them destined for smuggling into Gaza through tunnels.
Israel has repeatedly complained about the smuggling but Egypt says it is doing what it can with the limited number of personnel it is allowed to deploy along the border.
With the Egyptian border resealed early this month, most residents of Gaza are again trapped inside the narrow coastal and trade with the outside world is severely restricted.
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