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| Israel blocks Haniya Gaza return | |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| Israeli authorities have ordered the closure of a border point with Egypt to prevent the return of the Palestinian PM, Hamas's Ismail Haniya. | Israeli authorities have ordered the closure of a border point with Egypt to prevent the return of the Palestinian PM, Hamas's Ismail Haniya. |
| Mr Haniya is believed to be carrying with him tens of millions of dollars of donations from Iran. | Mr Haniya is believed to be carrying with him tens of millions of dollars of donations from Iran. |
| Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz had ordered EU monitors to close the Rafah crossing, Israeli sources said. | Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz had ordered EU monitors to close the Rafah crossing, Israeli sources said. |
| Hamas militants, angry that Mr Haniya could not return, engaged into a gun battle with border guards. | Hamas militants, angry that Mr Haniya could not return, engaged into a gun battle with border guards. |
| The Palestinian presidential guard, responsible for security at the border terminal, began firing at them, according to an Associated Press news agency journalist at the terminal. | The Palestinian presidential guard, responsible for security at the border terminal, began firing at them, according to an Associated Press news agency journalist at the terminal. |
| Mr Haniya was due to return to Gaza on Thursday after cutting short his first trip abroad as PM to deal with mounting tensions between Hamas and rival faction Fatah. | |
| Inter-faction tensions have increased since the killing of three sons of a pro-Fatah security chief on Monday. | |
| Boycott | |
| Since Hamas's election earlier this year, there has been a Western-led boycott of the Hamas government. | Since Hamas's election earlier this year, there has been a Western-led boycott of the Hamas government. |
| Hamas, which has been unable to pay the salaries of tens of thousands of its workers, has partially circumvented the boycott by officials carrying in millions of dollars of cash. | |
| Israel says that money, in particular from Iran, goes directly to the funding of "terrorist" operations against Israel. | Israel says that money, in particular from Iran, goes directly to the funding of "terrorist" operations against Israel. |
| Israel says Mr Haniya will only be allowed to cross into Gaza if he leaves the money - which is reported to total more than $30m (£15.3m) - on the Egyptian side. | |
| Maria Telleria, spokeswoman for the EU monitoring mission, said all 16 monitors were safely evacuated and the border would remain closed Thursday. | |
| "Now it is dark, the monitors will not be coming back," she told the Associated Press news agency. | |
| "But I don't know what is going to happen tomorrow." | |
| The border is operated by European observers who have to travel from Israel to get to it. |