Mubarak had authorised the crossing

Tens of thousands of Palestinians poured into Egypt on Wednesday to collect goods because of a severe blockade imposed by the Zionist regime, after Palestinian activists blew up parts of the border with the Gaza Strip.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said he had authorised the crossing of the Palestinians as long as they were unarmed.

"I told (security forces) to allow them to buy their basic needs and go back to Gaza as long as they are not carrying arms or anything illegal," he told reporters in Cairo.

Egyptian officials told AFP they estimate the number of people who entered Egypt at up to 60,000.

Egyptian General Ahmed Abdel Hamid ordered a full alert in the area, the official MENA agency reported.

The Gaza-based Palestinian government and the Palestinian Authority blamed the Zionist regime, calling the breakout an inevitable consequence of the blockade.

"Israel is responsible for what has happened -- this is the consequence of the blockade imposed on Gaza," Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas's spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP.

"The situation went out of control because of the strangulation caused by the blockade that has been imposed during nearly eight months on 1.5 million Palestinians," Gaza-based Palestinian government said in a statement.

"The population is confronted with a humanitarian crisis and wants to breathe."

Gaza-based Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya called for an emergency meeting with Abbas and Egyptian officials on opening the border crossings.

"We are ready to sit down with our Egyptian brothers and the brothers from Ramallah during an emergency meeting in Cairo to establish arrangements to open the Rafah border crossing, as well as all other border crossings," he said in a televised address.