Mahmud Abbas, the Palestinian president insists that Hamas hand over control of the Gaza strip [AFP]

Egypt is under pressure to seal the border, but is reluctant to be seen as shoring up a 7-month-old blockade imposed on Gaza to cripple Hamas.
 
"There will be an invitation to several Hamas leaders to come to Cairo promptly to discuss (the situation on the border) and there will also be a invitation sent to the Palestinian leadership, each separately," Ahmed Abul Gheit, the Egyptian foreign minister, told reporters on Saturday.
 
"There is an Egyptian desire to control the border and to control the flow of Palestinians in and out of the Gaza Strip,
 
"There is also a desire to restore the arrangements which existed on the border," Abul Gheit said.
 
Hamas offer
 
Also on Saturday, Hamas offered to restore the Gaza Strip's ruptured border with Egypt through direct diplomacy with Cairo, challenging a plan by rival Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, to assume control.

"We are offering an alternative, which is the operation of Rafah crossing, and we are ready to coordinate this with the Egyptian government," senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told reporters, referring to a key terminal at a frontier town.

"The situation at the Rafah border is temporary and exceptional."

A Hamas source said free movement across Rafah "is expected to last as long as it takes for an understanding to be reached between Hamas and the Egyptian government over the reoperation".

Abbas has said he had a plan for assuming control of Gaza's border crossings that would relieve the clampdown which followed Hamas's rout of his forces in the coastal territory last June.

Abbas, whose mandate is now effectively reduced to the occupied West Bank, said he would urge Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, to accept his offer at a summit on Sunday meant to advance peacemaking.

Israeli officials said Olmert opposed the idea.

But even if Israel were to agree, it is unclear how Abbas would take over the crossings without the consent of Hamas, which has shown its ability to prevent Egyptian efforts to re-seal the border at Rafah.

Open border

Despite the diplomatic implications Cairo has emphasised keeping the border open.

Egypt said on Saturday that it would continue to allow Gazans to cross the Rafah border in order to gain access to much needed supplies.

Ahmed Abdel-Hamid, the governor of north Sinai, said that "Palestinians will continue to cross until they get all their needs of commodities and foodstuffs".

He also said that Egyptian security forces have been "instructed to facilitate the Palestinians' passage and guide them to the places where they could get their needs".

Thousands of Palestinians are continuing to cross in and out of Egypt after Hamas defied Egyptian attempts to reseal the border on Friday and used bulldozers to smash through the barrier.

According to the UN, at least 700,000 Gazans - nearly half the territory's population of 1.5 million - have crossed into Egypt to stock up on desperately needed supplies.

Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, has called the situation in Gaza "unacceptable" and called on Israel to "lift its siege" and "solve the problem".
 
Factional dispute
 
Although Hamas' breach of the Rafah crossing has been seen as a challenge to Egypt's authority, Mubarak on Saturday invited Hamas and its political rival Fatah to meet for talks in Cairo.

Khaled Meshaal, the exiled Hamas leader, said: "I and all the brothers in the Hamas leadership welcome participating and will seek to make the dialogue a success."
 
But Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, on Saturday stuck to his conditions for resuming talks with Hamas, saying the group should reverse its takeover of the Gaza Strip.

In a speech on Saturday, Abbas called the Hamas takeover of Gaza as a "crime" and said the group must reverse these steps if they want to resume talks with him.
 
Fatah controls only the West Bank after Hamas seized total control of the Gaza Strip in June last year.

US pressure
 
The Egyptian government has been heavily criticed by the US for allowing the border to remain open and the US congress has suspended $100 million of aid to Cairo because of its failure to close the border.
 
Violence erupted at the Rafah border on Friday after the Egyptian government announced it would be shutting the Rafah crossing.
 
Egyptian forces took up positions a few steps into Palestinian territory, using shields to protect themselves from some Gaza residents who threw stones at them.

The police responded with batons and water cannons. At least 22 people were injured, according to Mena, the state news agency

Israel tightened its blockade of the Gaza Strip last week saying the move was intended to counter cross-border rocket fire by Palestinian groups.

The closure of the territory led to dwindling supplies of food, fuel and other basic necessities.
 
Fatah controls only the West Bank after Hamas seized total control of the Gaza Strip in June last year.
 
The diplomatic situation has intensified since Palestinians fighters broke a hole in a border wall in the town of Rafah which separates Egypt and Gaza, allowing Palestinians to cross freely into Egypt.
 
Since the border breach hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been travelling back and forth across the divided town.
 
Israel has for 10 days imposed a punishing blockade on the Gaza Strip, halting supplies of foodstuffs, medical equipment and fuel in response to rocket fire into southern Israel from Gaza.

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