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Gaza City: Gaza's 1.5 million Palestinians were trapped behind closed borders again on Monday after Egyptian forces sealed the last of the breaks in the Gaza-Egypt barrier.
Metal spikes and barbed wire were put in place on Sunday and Egypt warned Hamas against trying to open the border by force again, as it did on January 23.
Suleiman Awwad, spokesman for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said, "Egypt is a respected state. Its border cannot be breached and its soldiers should not be lobbed with stones."
Even after the closure, Egyptians and Gazans who found themselves on the wrong side of the border were allowed across.
Among those returning from Egypt on Monday were Gazans who had hoped to use Egypt as a transit point for other countries, but were denied transit visas by Egypt.
The border breach had temporarily relieved a seven-month blockade, imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas seized Gaza by force in June.
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