Egypt: We can't allow Israeli murder

Egypt says it can not condone Israel's 'murder' of the Palestinians, summoning the Israeli envoy to Cairo over Tel Aviv's aggression in Gaza.

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"We cannot allow these attacks to continue. We cannot permit the murder of Palestinians," Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit was quoted by AFP as saying about Saturday's Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip.

Early in the day, the coastal area came under 30 coordinated attacks by Israeli F16 bombers and apache helicopters. The onslaughts have, so far, killed 210 Palestinians and wounded hundreds others.

"We summoned the Israeli ambassador and we said we refuse this aggression and we demanded an immediate end to it," said ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki.

Later in the day, Egypt opened its Rafah border crossing with the Strip letting through dozens of the casualties in dire need for medical assistance. The move was instructed by President Hosni Mubarak who had likewise denounced the raids.

The common border with Gaza has, meanwhile, been subjected to ratcheted up security surveillance.

The attacks marked Tel Aviv's acting on its recurrent threats to pound the area which it placed under a blockade after the democratically-elected Palestinian government of Hamas assumed control in mid-June 2007. Link

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