Egptian border guards open fire to drive off Gaza protesters

Gaza Strip: Egyptian border guards fired in the air and used clubs and water cannon to drive back hundreds of Palestinian women who surged across the border from Gaza on Tuesday in a protest to back their demands for the frontier to be opened for shipments of food and essential provisions, in short supply due to Israel's closure of its borders with the coastal strip.

Eywitnesses said 15 women injured in the scuffle with the Egyptians were taken from the Rafah border crossing by Palestinian ambulances.

They said several thousand women, carrying flags of Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, demonstrated at the Palestinian side of the crossing.

Since Hamas seized control of Gaza last June, Egypt joined Israel in severely restricting access to Gaza, largely keeping its border terminal closed.