Israel won't let Abbas out of Gaza Strip

Israel will not allow Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to leave the Gaza Strip, part of the closure clamped on the territory after the abduction of an Israeli soldier, military officials said today.

Abbas is in Gaza for talks with the ruling Islamic Hamas over a document that implicitly recognises Israel. The two sides announced an agreement today, but it was overshadowed by the fallout from the Sunday abduction.

Israel massed tanks and troops on the Gaza border and threatened harsh military retaliation for a raid on Sunday by Palestinian militants. They tunnelled under the border and attacked an Israeli army post at a crossing point, killing two soldiers and capturing a third.

In a speech yesterday, Olmert announced the total closure on Gaza. “This is the first in a series of steps which we will consider, with patience but determination, and without compromise, in order to make it clear to everyone that this terror must stop,” he told Jewish leaders in Jerusalem.

As part of the siege, Israel closed four crossings with the Gaza Strip and thus blocked all traffic of goods into and out of the area, the army said.

Today it emerged that the travel ban included Abbas, who usually enjoys free passage between Gaza and the West Bank through Israel.

Israeli military officials said that Abbas would not be allowed to return to the West Bank, as part of an Israeli closure on the Gaza Strip meant to press the militants to release the soldier, who is believed alive.

A spokesman for Abbas, Nabil Abu Rdeneh, said that the Palestinian leader had not yet tried to leave the coastal area, since he was closely following efforts to release an Israeli soldier kidnapped by Palestinian militants during an attack against Israel on Sunday.

The closure imposed on Sunday has prevented hundreds of Palestinian merchants from leaving the area and Palestinian fisherman from sailing off the Mediterranean coast, the army said.

Also, hundreds of Palestinians trying to get into the Gaza Strip were stranded today on the Egyptian side of the border at the Palestinian-controlled Rafah crossing, which was closed since European monitors could not reach the area through an Israeli crossing, said the director of security at the Palestinian crossings, Salim Abu Safiah.

According to a US-mediated agreement, the Palestinians agreed to have EU monitors stationed at Rafah when they took over the crossing after Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip last summer.

The closure of Rafah meant that many Palestinians who need medical treatment abroad were unable to leave Gaza, Abu Safiah said.

Israel said it was allowing Palestinians with medical needs to exit through the Erez crossing between northern Gaza and Israel.