Gazans stream to crossing with Israel, seeking sanctuary in West Bank

Trapped by Israeli tanks and Hamas gunmen, hundreds of terrified Palestinians on Tuesday holed up in a stench-filled concrete tunnel at a border crossing, desperately trying to flee the Islamic rulers of the Gaza Strip.

Israel allowed two people hit by Hamas gunfire into the country, 24 hours after they were wounded in an assault on the tunnel, but rejected pleas to open its border.

Israel's Supreme Court is scheduled Wednesday to hear a petition by local rights group Physicians for Human Rights demanding that Israeli authorities offer immediate medical treatment to any of the Gazans stranded at Erez who are in need of it, the group said.

In a separate development, Israel allowed a food aid shipment into Gaza Tuesday for the first time since the Hamas takeover _ easing concerns about a humanitarian crisis in the impoverished area.

Fearing death or persecution, Gazans began flocking to the Erez passage after Hamas militants wrested control of the coastal strip late last week. The crowd includes dozens of Fatah fighters whose forces were routed by Hamas. Israel, fearful that the crowd includes Fatah gunmen who could destabilize the quieter West Bank, has refused to let most of the people in, saying their lives were not in danger.

As the standoff stretched on, the scene inside the tunnel grew increasingly desperate.

Women, children and young men sat between two high concrete walls Tuesday, about 10 meters (yards) apart, looking tired and grimy. Suitcases and trash were strewn on the ground. Some families sat on mats, others on bare asphalt, including several men with bloody bandages on their legs. A breeze barely stirred between the walls, and the tunnel, which has no toilets, reeked of urine and sweat.

"It's disgusting. People are using the walls as toilets. The women are suffering," said one man inside, refusing to be identified out of fear for his safety. He said people's nerves were frayed, and they were fighting over food.

In one instance, a crowd attacked a food cart, "and only the strong got the food," he said. Later, Israel sent in five cartons of food, he said. "There was order because they made everybody sit down," he said.

The man said some were afraid that Hamas infiltrators were mixed in the crowd and spying on them. Late Monday, gunmen from a small Hamas-allied group, disguised as civilians, pulled guns and grenades out of their luggage and killed the nephew of a notorious Fatah militia leader, who himself was killed by a Hamas mob last week, witnesses said. Fifteen people were wounded.

Nearly 24 hours after the attack, Israel allowed in two of the wounded Tuesday, the army and medical officials said. Three other people wounded in the Palestinian infighting last week also were allowed to pass. The army did not provide details of the identities of the wounded, who were taken to Israeli hospitals.

To maintain order, Israeli tanks and armored vehicles rolled up to the Palestinian side of Erez on Tuesday, chasing away cars parked next to the tunnel. One tank blocked people from leaving or entering the tunnel.

The tanks pulled back later Monday, the military said, but people were not being allowed to enter Israel.

Witnesses said about 600 people were holed up in the long concrete tunnel that leads to the Israeli side of the crossing. About 100 people were believed to be fleeing Fatah security men, with the others civilians seeking a better life in the West Bank. Gaza and the West Bank are separated by about 30 miles (50 kilometers) of Israeli territory.

Israel, which has sophisticated weapons screening equipment in place at Erez, said it was letting only the staff of international organizations, people with special permission and humanitarian cases to cross.

"We don't think that all of them there are threatened," Nir Peres, a military liaison officer, told Israel Radio.

Israel allowed about 50 senior Fatah officials and their families to cross into the West Bank from Gaza over the weekend, citing threats to their safety. Some 200 other Fatah officials are in Egypt, trying to travel to the West Bank via Jordan, Fatah officials said.

Hamas declared a general amnesty for Fatah fighters shortly after it vanquished them in Gaza, but frightened civilians and security officers have not been reassured. Checkpoints have been put up on the road to the crossing to arrest fighters trying to leave.

Abu Mustafa, a Fatah fighter seeking to leave Gaza through Erez, feared he is a marked man.

"They forgave people before and later killed them. There's no way we'll go back," he said.

A Fatah leader in the West Bank, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the matter, said President Mahmoud Abbas was not interested in having Gazans stream out of the coastal strip and leave it an undiluted Hamas stronghold.

Following the Hamas takeover of Gaza, the Palestinians now have two rival governments _ Abbas' Western-backed government in the West Bank and the Hamas rulers of Gaza. The international community has embraced Abbas, while the Islamic militant Hamas has been shunned.

In Washington, U.S. President George W. Bush and visiting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised to bolster Abbas in his battle with Hamas, calling him a moderate voice and the only true leader of the Palestinian people.

"I am going to make every possible effort to cooperate with him," the prime minister said. Bush called Abbas "the president of all the Palestinians" and "a reasonable voice amongst the extremists."

Talking to reporters in Washington, Olmert pledged to free tax money Israel has collected for the Palestinians but has frozen since Hamas took power. He did not give an amount, but the total is in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Olmert also said he would act to ease travel restrictions in the West Bank and would also consider releasing Palestinian prisoners and shoring Abbas' security forces.

Gaza's borders have been sealed since the street battles that led to Hamas' conquest of Gaza broke out last week. On Tuesday, Israel let in a first food aid shipment, from the U.N. World Food Program _ 10 truckloads of food and two trucks carrying medical supplies.

The WFP ordinarily feeds 250,00 Gazans, and Shlomo Dror, an Israeli military spokesman, said aid would continue to flow, unless there is Hamas "interference."

Facing growing international isolation, Hamas called for a "national dialogue" with its Fatah foes.

"We are still prepared for a brotherly, serious and responsible national dialogue," Khalil al-Haya, a prominent Hamas lawmaker, told a news conference.

But in the West Bank, Abbas' spokesman ruled out talks with Hamas.

"Before any dialogue, Hamas must withdraw its armed people from all the places they occupied and give back the power to the legitimate authority," spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh said.

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AP correspondents Diaa Hadid in Gaza City and Karin Laub in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.