Official: Egypt frees 21 arrested Gazans, some Hamas activists

Egyptian security on Monday released 21 Palestinians, many of them detained carrying weapons and explosives during the two weeks when the border with Gaza had been breached, and sent them back into the strip, a local security official said.

The 21 were released at noon and escorted by scores of Egyptian security forces to the border where they were handed over to Hamas, the official said on the customary condition of anonymity.

The releases came after talks Saturday between Egyptian officials and a Hamas delegation over the fate of Palestinians detained following the Jan. 23 forcible opening of the border. Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha said Cairo agreed to release all the Palestinians after the delegation returned.

Of the men released, 12 were directly affiliated with Hamas and had been captured with explosives and weapons inside Egypt. They were believed to be trying to infiltrate back into Israel to carry out attacks.

Hamas is seeking a reopening of the Rafah crossing and a role in monitoring the border, something rejected by Egypt, which has called for a return to the 2005 international agreement that gives Israeli and European Union monitors a supervisory capacity.

Hamas has criticized the old system for giving Israel a de facto veto power over the crossing.

Egyptian officials have repeatedly warned Hamas to stay away from the border and not even think of reopening it by force as they did on January 23, when explosives blew several holes in the frontier and sent hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into Egypt to shop for supplies.

	Gazans pouring across the breached border with Egypt last month. (AP)