Israel wants to transfer Palestinian refugees who are waiting to leave Gaza at the Erez crossing to Egyptian territory, but Egyptian sources say Cairo is reluctant to accept them.

Israel estimates 150 refugees are waiting near the Erez crossing, demanding they be allowed to cross through Israeli territory to the West Bank. Palestinian sources maintain there are at least 600 refugees there, including more than 100 Fatah members.

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Neither Israel nor Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is willing to allow refugees to enter the West Bank, Israel Defense Forces sources said yesterday.

Israel is concerned that any such gesture on its part will result in hundreds or thousands of refugees coming to the Erez crossing and asking to be taken to the West Bank. It also fears that letting masses of Gazans pass through its territory to the West Bank may have a destabilizing influence.

Yesterday afternoon, Magen David Adom ambulances evacuated four Palestinians injured by Palestinian gunmen at the Erez crossing on Monday. Three of the injured were lightly hurt and one was moderately wounded. They were taken to Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon for treatment.

Three other Palestinians who had been hospitalized in Gaza were also let into Israel for medical treatment, rescue and military officials said.

On Monday, gunmen allied with Hamas disguised themselves as fleeing civilians and hurled hand grenades at Israeli soldiers and Palestinians at Erez, killing a relative of a slain Fatah leader and injuring 15 other Palestinians.

Security sources in Israel said yesterday that the waiting refugees included a militant who had sought refuge from IDF soldiers in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in 2002. Another is a militant well-known to the defense establishment, which says he is responsible for several Qassam rocket attacks against Israel.

One option being examined is letting approximately 300 Fatah members cross into the West Bank through Egypt and Jordan.

Meanwhile, Israel has been in regular contact with Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian Authority official in charge of negotiations with Israel, to coordinate humanitarian assistance for Gaza's residents.

Similar efforts are also underway with the international aid organizations operating in the strip.

At noon yesterday, Israel allowed 10 trucks bearing food and two trucks carrying medicine to enter the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing. The trucks were delivering food for the United Nations World Food Program.

Fuel transfers to the strip continued yesterday, through the fuel terminal near the Karni crossing, a security source said.

To maintain order at Erez, Israeli tanks and armored vehicles came to the Palestinian side of the crossing yesterday. One tank parked at the entrance, preventing people from leaving or entering the terminal. Army bulldozers blocked the access road with sand, witnesses said.

Women, children and young men sat between two high concrete walls about 10 meters apart, looking tired and sweaty. Suitcases and trash were strewn on the ground. Some families sat on mats, others on bare concrete. Breezes barely reached them, and the tunnel, which has no toilets, reeked of urine and sweat.

Some people said they had barely eaten in the past three days.

Israel said it was allowing only employees of international organizations, people with special permits and humanitarian cases to cross.

"We don't think everyone there is threatened" by Hamas, a liaison officer said yesterday. "There is a clear conflict between security needs and humanitarian considerations," he added. "It's clear we don't want in the West Bank Al-Aqsa [Martyrs' Brigades] militants who have carried out attacks."

Israel allowed about 50 senior Fatah officials and their families to cross into the West Bank from Gaza over the weekend, explaining that they were under threat in Gaza.

Hamas declared a general amnesty for Fatah members shortly after it vanquished the movement in Gaza, but frightened civilians and security officers do not feel reassured. Checkpoints have been set up along the road to the crossing to arrest militants trying to leave, and gunmen at the crossing are allowed to fire over people's heads.

On a Hamas Web site, a deck of cards showing pictures of four Fatah leaders was emblazoned across the home page. "Revenge is coming no matter what," stated the caption. The cards showed former Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan, now exiled in the West Bank, and three other leaders.

Abu Mustafa, a Fatah fighter seeking to leave Gaza through Erez, said he feared he, too, was a marked man.

"They forgave people before, and later killed them. There's no way we'll go back," he said.

Another security officer there, who did not give his name for fear of retribution, accused Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of not doing enough to let terrified Gazans reach the West Bank.

"We don't want to go back to [Ismail] Haniyeh, and Abu Mazen [Abbas] won't let us in," he said.

A Fatah leader in the West Bank, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Abbas was not interested in having Gazans stream out of the coastal strip and leave it an undiluted Hamas stronghold.

Facing growing international isolation, Hamas called for a national dialogue with its Fatah foes.

"We are still prepared for a brotherly, serious and responsible national dialogue," Khalil al-Haya, a prominent Hamas lawmaker, told a news conference.

But in the West Bank, an Abbas spokesman ruled out dialogue with Hamas.

"Before any dialogue, Hamas must withdraw its armed men from all the places they occupied and return power to the legitimate authority," spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said.