Israel on alert ahead of 'human chain' Gaza protest: report

The Israeli army is preparing for a possible rush on the border fence around the Gaza Strip aimed at breaking a months-long economic blockade, local media reported on Sunday.

According to a report on army radio the Islamist Hamas movement which has ruled the Gaza Strip since June may stage a mass march on the border to protest the near-complete Israeli closure of the impoverished territory.

Israel's Haaretz newspaper also reported on Saturday that Israeli forces have increased their presence along the border, adding that Israel fears there could be several casualties if the troops try to halt such a march.

An Israeli army spokesman declined to comment on the reports.

The Popular Committee Against the Siege (PCAS), a politically independent group headed by Palestinian parliamentarian Jamal al-Khudari, has called for a mass demonstration on Monday against Israel's closure regime.

The group has announced it will attempt to construct a human chain from the closed Rafah crossing on the southern Gaza border with Egypt to the Beit Hanun crossing in northern Gaza along the territory's main highway.

Hamas has said it favours the demonstration but did not organise it.

On January 23, Palestinian militants blasted several holes in the border barrier between Gaza and Egypt, sending a tide of hundreds of thousands of people streaming into the Sinai on a mission to replenish depleted stocks.

Hamas gunmen and Egyptian troops resealed the border on February 3.

Israel has sealed the increasingly impoverished territory off from all but vital humanitarian supplies since Hamas took power there in June in a bid to halt rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel.

But Palestinians and several international agencies have said the sanctions amount to collective punishment of the Strip's 1.5 million residents. AFP