Hamas leader delayed at border

Israel blocked Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh from carrying $35 million into the Gaza Strip on Thursday, allowing the Hamas leader to return from fundraising in Muslim countries only after he had left the money behind.

At least 20 people were wounded in clashes at the Rafah border crossing between gunmen from Hamas and the rival Fatah faction of moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during the hours-long standoff, hospital officials said.

A Palestinian official said one of Haniyeh’s bodyguards was killed when the prime minister’s convoy came under fire as he left Rafah. Another bodyguard, Haniyeh’s son and a political advisor were wounded, the official said.

Haniyeh sped from the scene in a pickup truck, with bodyguards surrounding him.

The test of wills on the Egyptian border ratcheted up tension in Gaza, where a political showdown between Hamas and Fatah has boiled over recently in a series of killings.

Palestinian officials and Western diplomats said Haniyeh had planned to enter the impoverished Gaza Strip from Egypt with suitcases filled with $35 million in cash.

In the last two weeks, he visited countries including Iran, Qatar and Sudan to raise money for his government, which has struggled because of Western sanctions imposed after Hamas, an Islamist group that refuses to recognize Israel or renounce violence against it, won a parliamentary majority in January’s election.

But Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz ordered the closure of the Rafah crossing, and European monitors stationed at the terminal left the area. An Israeli security source said it was the money, not Haniyeh, that Israel wanted to keep out of Gaza.

Hamas sources said the money stayed in Egypt with two officials who would sort out what to do with it.

Hamas says it uses financial support from sympathetic states to pay government salaries and maintain key public services. Israel says it believes the money goes to Hamas militants.