Gaza's Karni commercial crossing opened for the first time in a week [AFP]

The Egypytian border crossing into Gaza also opened on Wednesday, but only for people in need of medical attention, and stranded travellers.

Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, on Wednesday said: "The Karni, Nahal Oz and Erez terminals were reopened this morning."

Israel halted the transit of goods into Gaza after two Qassam rockets were fired from the north of the strip into an open area in the western Negev on Monday, according to Israel's Ynetnews.

Under an Egyptian-brokered truce, Hamas is supposed to stop cross-border rocket fire by Palestinian groups in Gaza.

In exchange, Israel is to ease its year-long siege of the strip and halt military raids.

Since the six-month ceasefire went into effect on June 19, goods crossings into Gaza have been sporadically or partially opened, but none have been returned to the level of activity they saw over a year ago.

Limited goods came through Sufa and Nahal Oz last Sunday, nothing has come through Karni for a week.

The Erez passenger crossing - used mainly by diplomats and journalists - has continued to open regularly, but with the exception of a few special permit holders, is inaccessible to ordinary Palestinians.

Rafah opening

Under the Israeli blockade, medicine and other vital supplies have been hard to come by.

Medhat Abbas, from the Palestinian health ministry, said that there were at least 750 serious medical cases inside Gaza that required either a patient to be transported out or medicine delivered into the territory.

Egypt opened the Rafah crossing on Tuesday for a two-day period to allow some of the more urgent cases to seek aid across the .

But Abbas said only 50 or so criticial patients were able to cross the border.

"The others are simply waiting on this sunny day to pass through to Egypt," he said.

"Everybody's trying to find a chance to travel and get out of the this prison ... students and others. But this is to the detriment to the patients.

'Goodwill' gesture

The Rafah crossing is the main gateway for Gaza's 1.4 million people to travel abroad.

It was sealed after Hamas seized total control of Gaza, forcing out security forces loyal to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, a year ago.

"If conditions during the truce stablise, then Rafah is supposed to open for all Palestinians to travel freely to and from Egypt. At the moment, it's only for 48 hours, and most say it's a goodwill gesture by the Egyptians."

In January, Hamas blew up the border wall between Egypt and Gaza, allowing thousands of people to move in and out of Egypt for nearly two weeks before it was resealed.

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