Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit endorsed Abbas's proposal to deploy his own, Western-trained forces at the crossing along with European monitors, Reuters reported.

Abul Gheit telephoned US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana to express Egypt's "determination to take gradual control of the border," his ministry said.

Since January 23, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians poured into Egypt after Palestinians blew up the border wall to allow the territory's 1.5 million people to stock up on food in short supply due to a crippling Israeli blockade.

The flood has significantly slowed over the past several days amid bad weather, Egyptian efforts to re-seal the border, and with shops on Egypt's side of the border having run out of supplies.

Egyptian and Hamas forces used concrete and fencing to close two gaps on Monday, January 28. Two other breaches in the frontier remain open, an entry and an exit, under joint Hamas and Egyptian guard.

Egypt, the first Arab country to make peace with Israel, does not want to be seen as aiding the Israeli blockade.

However, it also fears for its national security and sovereign territories in hosting so many Palestinians mainly in Sinai.

The Rafah border crossing with Egypt has largely been closed since June after Hamas seized control of the territory and the European Union pulled its monitors out of the Gaza Strip.

EU, US Backing

The EU said on Monday it would consider returning its monitors to the Rafah crossing.

In a statement, EU foreign ministers said the bloc was "ready to consider resuming its monitoring mission in Rafah" under that deal — provided Abbas, Egypt and Israel all approve.

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