RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) - Tens of thousands of Palestinians poured from the Gaza Strip into Egypt Wednesday after masked gunmen with explosives destroyed most of the seven-mile wall dividing the border town of Rafah.

The Gazans crossed on foot, in cars or riding donkey carts to buy supplies made scarce by an Israeli blockade of their impoverished territory. Police from the militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, directed the traffic. Egyptian border guards took no action.

The gunmen began breaching the wall dividing Rafah before dawn, according to witnesses and Hamas officials, who told The Associated Press that they later closed all but two of the gaps in the wall. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said they were allowing Palestinians to move freely through the two gaps.

The identity of the gunmen who breached the border was not immediately clear. But Hamas expressed support for the move, saying that, ``Blowing up the border wall with Egypt is a reflection of the ... catastrophic situation which the Palestinian people in Gaza are living through due to the blockade.''

Thousands of Gazans began crossing into Egypt and returning with milk, cigarettes and plastic bottles of fuel.

An Associated Press reporter arrived after first light and saw that about two-thirds of the Rafah wall had been demolished. The reporter also saw the crowd of Palestinians crossing into Egypt swell into the tens of thousands.

The destruction continued as Palestinians used a bulldozer to tear down a section of low concrete wall topped with barbed wire to allow easier access for cars.

Mohammed Abu Ghazel, 29, said he had crossed the border three times. He bought cigarettes worth $53 in Egypt and sold them for five times that in Gaza, he said.

``This can feed my family for a month,'' he said.

Guards directed the crowds over the fallen metal through two main crossing areas, inspecting some bags. One man returning to Gaza carried seven pistols that were confiscated by Hamas police. Others walked unhindered over the piles of scrap metal that once made up the border wall.

The destruction of the wall came on the sixth day of a complete closure of Gaza, imposed by Israel and backed by Egypt, in response to a spike in Gaza rocket attacks on Israeli border towns.

The territory had been cut off from the world since June, when Hamas seized power in Gaza by force, and Gazans are facing critical shortages of electricity, fuel and other supplies.

Egypt has largely kept its border with Gaza closed since the Hamas takeover, amid concerns of a spillover of Hamas-style militancy into Egypt.

However, Gaza's Hamas rulers have orchestrated daily demonstrations on the Gaza-Egypt border, in an apparent attempt to appeal to Arab public opinion and pressure Egypt to open the passage.

On Tuesday, Israel eased the closure slightly, transferring fuel to restart Gaza's only power plant, and also sent in some cooking gas, food and medicine. Israel has pledged to continue limited shipments because of concerns that a humanitarian crisis could develop in the already impoverished coastal territory.

Israeli officials would not immediately comment on Wednesday's incident, which began before dawn when Palestinian gunmen began blowing holes in the border wall. There were 17 explosions in all, Hamas security officials said.

All Egyptian security and police officers were pulled out from the immediate vicinity of the border, Egyptian security officials said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. They did not explain why the officers had been withdrawn.

Gazan Ibrahim Abu Taha, 45, a father of seven, was in the Egyptian section of Rafah with his two brothers and $185 in his pocket. ``We want to buy food, we want to buy rice and sugar, milk and wheat and some cheese,'' Abu Taha said in a telephone interview, adding that he would also buy cheap Egyptian cigarettes.

Abu Taha said he could get such basic foods in Gaza, but at three times the cost.

An off-duty Hamas security officer who identified himself as Abdel Rahman, 29, said this was his first time out of Gaza. ``I can smell the freedom,'' he said. ``We need no border after today.''

Abdel Rahman said no weapons were being smuggled in from Egypt. ``You can buy weapons in Gaza, guns and RPGs,'' he said.

Weapons are generally brought into Gaza through smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border.

Governments, aid agencies and the U.N. have issued urgent appeals for an end to the Israeli closure of Gaza. Israel's Defense Ministry ruled late Tuesday that 60,000 gallons of diesel fuel will be transferred into Gaza daily, but the crossings will remain closed to other goods and people until further notice.

A Hamas militant was killed in a clash early Wednesday with Israeli forces near the closed Sufa crossing into Gaza, Palestinian officials said. The Israeli military said soldiers exchanged fire with Palestinian militants in the area.

Associated Press Writer Ashraf Sweilam contributed to this report from Rafah, Egypt.

01/23/08 03:52 © Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained In this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.