Hamas urges monitors to reopen key Gaza crossing

GAZA, June 22 (Reuters) The ruling Palestinian militant group Hamas urged European monitors to reopen Gaza's main international crossing after it remained shut today in the wake of Israeli security concerns.

The Rafah terminal with Egypt has been closed since yesterday when the Israeli army shut the nearby Kerem Shalom passage onto the southern Gaza Strip over a security alert. Monitors use the passage to get to Rafah.

Hamas has said it suspected Rafah was shut to stop its government from carrying cash by hand into Gaza to sidestep a Western aid embargo. The monitors have denied the accusation.

European monitors oversee Rafah under a US-brokered deal aimed at boosting the impoverished Gazan economy after Israel withdrew settlers and soldiers from the strip last year.

''The closure comes amid the escalating siege against the Palestinian people,'' said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri.

''The border is a Palestinian-Egyptian crossing and the European monitors should continue to carry out the mission they were assigned under the Rafah agreement.'' A spokesman for the monitors said a team was ready to open Rafah when the alert lifted. The army had also said Israelis could not man a liaison office at Kerem Shalom, which helps oversee Rafah, until the alert changed, the spokesman added.

''We have no idea how long the alert may last,'' he said.

HIGH ALERT An Israeli army spokeswoman said there was still a ''very high alert'' of a possible terror attack on Kerem Shalom.

The army has said monitors could get to Rafah via the northern Erez crossing. Monitors avoid that route because they would need to travel the length of Gaza under heavy escort.

Last week the monitors sent a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas protesting against Hamas's use of Rafah to bring in large quantities of cash, raising fears the passage could be shut down.

One European official said on Wednesday that Hamas officials had to declare any money they brought in and provide information about where it came from and how it would be used.

Israel, the United States and the European Union imposed crippling economic sanctions on the new government after Hamas refused to recognise the Jewish state, renounce violence and accept past peace deals.

Sworn to destroy Israel, Hamas took office in March.

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