Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said Saturday his movement opposes opening the Israel-Gaza border crossing of Kerem Shalom.

"This is a conspiracy against our people by Israel and the pro-American
leadership in Ramallah," Barhoum said in a reference to Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Fayyad's government.

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Also Saturday, about 1,500 Hamas supporters, most of them flag-waving school children, marched in Gaza City to protest the continued closure of the Rafah Egypt-Gaza border crossing.

Meanwhile, a UN report released Thursday said Israel is working with the PA and the United Nations to increase the capacity of the Kerem Shalom border crossing, which is meant to allow goods from Egypt to enter the Gaza Strip.

The activity includes opening two conveyor belts and increasing the area for truck-transfer operations, which could increase the terminal's capacity to a potential 150 trucks a day, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in its situation report.

The Kerem Shalom crossing was scheduled to reopen Wednesday to thousands of Palestinians seeking to return home to the Gaza Strip, but technical problems on the Egyptian side of the border means it will remain closed.

The Rafah crossing was originally supposed to be the Israel-Gaza terminal for people, but it has been closed since June 10, leaving Kerem Shalom as the only crossing the Palestinians could use during the fighting between Hamas and Fatah.

Kerem Shalom was in use Thursday - but only sporadically, due to the firing of Qassam rockets near the crossing, OCHA said.

It is unclear when the Gaza-Egypt border will fully reopen. Immediately after Hamas took over the Gaza Strip, Israel asked Egypt to keep the crossing closed since the agreements that governed the operation of Kerem Shalom and other crossings had become defunct in view of the takeover. As such, it appears that the opening of the crossing may not be a permanent development.

At least 4,000 Palestinians have been waiting in Egypt for the past week, without adequate accommodations or facilities, in order to cross into the Gaza Strip via Israel.

Meanwhile, OCHA said in its report Thursday that humanitarian imports into the Gaza Strip between June 25 and July 1 met 70 percent of Gazans' minimum food needs - a significant increase from the previous week.

Only 21 percent of food needs in Gaza were met the week before June 25, according to the report.

The United Nations estimates that 900 truckloads must enter Gaza per week to meet its citizens' basic needs. Of those, 625 would carry essential food and medical items and the others would contain items such as hygiene products and basic consumables.

Milk powder, baby milk and vegetable oil are in short supply in the Strip, especially in northern Gaza and Gaza City, according to market surveys cited in the report.