Tens of thousands of Palestinians continued to breach Israel's siege and stream into Egypt for the second day running to buy food, provisions, drugs and fuel.

Hamas announced that it was trying to find a mechanism to allow the Palestinians to cross into Egypt permanently so that they could buy what they needed officially and legally.

Deposed PM Ismail Haniya said he had proposed to the Egyptian government to sign an agreement that would permanently allow Palestinians to cross into Egypt and go back, and that Cairo had promised to study the proposal.

The spokesman for the deposed Palestinian government, Taher al-Nounou, said that a three-million dollar aid would be granted to around 8,500 farmers who had suffered from the Israeli aggression and that Gaza employees would receive a month's salary.

The chairman of the Palestinian Energy Authority, Kanaan Abid, said that electricity cuts in the West Bank in the future would happen as often as over the past few days.

Meanwhile, Israel warned Egypt about its allowing tens of thousands of Palestinians cross, and urged Cairo to find a solution to the crisis.

Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement reminding Egypt of what it is supposed to do by virtue of the Peace Treaty between the two countries, especially with regard to the agreed-upon procedures to open crossing points between the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said that Israel was worried about these developments, as not only were Palestinians allowed to go across the borders, but also weapons were smuggled from Egypt by Hamas.

Washington declared it was worried about the events at Rafah and stressed on the necessity not to use crossing points to smuggle goods and weapons.

Gazans who stormed the Rafah crossing point described their move to Egypt as an escape from hell to get much needed drugs and food. They praised President Mubarak's decision to let them into Egypt to ease Israel's blockade.

Al-Masry Al-Youm went to the Gaza Strip and monitored the situation there from the inside. More than 700,000 people crossed into Egypt and once in Arish, they bought all kinds of commodities, from food to construction material.

Oil stations in the city ran out of gasoline and shops were unable to provide the huge quantities asked for by the escapers. Some locals said that Gazans even negotiated with them to buy their winter clothes.

Some Palestinians crossed the border by horse-pulled carts hoping to go back with gas cylinders, the price of which in the Gaza Strip had risen up to 100 shekel (LE 70), and sacks of cement.

Some fleers complained about their living conditions, which deteriorated so much so that they could not buy shrouds for their dead or find stones to build their tombs.

Arish traders estimated sales during the first day of this exodus at millions of pounds. They also pointed out that prices went up by three times, as diesel has risen to LE 7 per liter, cement sacks to LE 70, a kilo of sugar to LE 5 and a carton of the worst kind of cigarettes to LE 110