Israel Defense Forces officials Saturday doubted that the plan to allow the return of 6,000 Palestinians stranded in Egypt since the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip will begin Sunday as scheduled, because of leaks by the Palestinian side regarding the agreement reached with Israel and Egypt.

Israel suspects the information was made public by Palestinians who do not want the plan to go ahead.

A first group of some 100 Gazans is supposed to enter Israel from Sinai Sunday morning, through the Nitzana crossing. From there they are to be taken to the Erez crossing in the northern Gaza Strip, in a convoy of buses secured by Israeli troops. They will then reenter Palestinian territory.

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Sunday morning's maneuver is billed as a pilot plan: If all goes well, the remaining thousands of stranded Palestinians will return to Gaza later this week.

However, the IDF is worried that Hamas will try to disrupt the group's return, after Palestinian Information Minister Riad Maliki revealed details of the agreement Saturday. "Israel has allowed the Palestinians through, on condition that the names of those who enter the Strip are approved in advance," Maliki said.

Hamas denounced the compromise agreement since it allows Israel to decide who can enter Gaza. The concern is that Hamas will try to hit the Erez crossing with mortar shells or by other means.

Israel is already preparing for the possibility of moving the stranded Gazans through crossings other than Erez.

Palestinian Minister of Prisoners Affairs Ashraf Ajrami said Saturday that the group will enter Gaza through points along the Egyptian-Israeli border. "The Palestinian Authority is responsible for putting them in buses and transporting them back into Gaza," Ajrami said.

The Egyptian Red Crescent estimated that roughly 5,000 Palestinians have been stranded in dusty Egyptian towns in northern Sinai since Hamas Islamists seized control of the Gaza Strip on June 14 and the main border crossings were closed. Palestinian officials estimate the number of stranded Gazans at between 6,000 and 7,000.

Their return had been delayed by a dispute over the Rafah terminal on the Gaza-Egypt border, which has been closed since Hamas' takeover. Under a U.S.-brokered agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, the crossing was operated by Egypt and the Palestinians, with EU monitors deployed on the Palestinian side. During Hamas' takeover, the European monitors fled and Hamas militiamen took control of the terminal.

Hamas has rejected proposals to allow Gazans to return through other crossings controlled by Israel, and Israel and Egypt have refused to reopen the Rafah crossing as long as Hamas is on the border.

Sources in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's bureau said that Israel, PA moderates and EU monitors do not want the Rafah crossing opened under present conditions. "If there's a humanitarian problem, the Palestinians can go through the Kerem Shalom crossing," an official said, adding: "The matter has been discussed for several weeks and the decision is in the Palestinians' hands."

In a related development, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad informed Israeli officials recently that he wants to reach a speedy agreement regarding the Gaza Strip crossings, which would include the involvement of an international party to coordinate their opening with Israel.

In conversations with these officials, Fayad denied that he and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas are opposed to opening the crossings in Gaza to put pressure on Hamas. "We were misunderstood in Israel. The last thing we want is to starve the Strip," Fayad said. "We simply aren't willing for Hamas to be part of the new agreements regarding the crossings, because that would legitimize it [Hamas]."

Fayad also told Israeli officials that he intends to set up a new crossings authority shortly, modeled on the Israel Airports Authority, to operate all crossings between Israel and the PA - in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Among the ideas floated this past week was Turkish or Norwegian involvement in the crossings. Both countries maintain ties with Hamas.

A delegation of Turkish foreign ministry officials and business people visited Israel and the PA this week and discussed the crossings, among other topics. The Turks said they want to invest money to build an industrial zone at the Jalameh checkpoint near Jenin, in place of the one at Erez. They dropped plans to rebuild the Erez industrial zone after Israel's withdrawal from Gaza because of the ensuing anarchy in the Strip and its recent takeover by Hamas.