A leader of Hamas group warned Tuesday the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt could soon be breached again, saying an “explosion” was imminent if the frontier remained closed. “I say clearly all options are open ... What is coming will be bigger than what happened in the past, not only at the borders with Egypt but in other areas too,” Khalil Al-Hayya told a news conference. In January, Hamas blasted through the border fence with Egypt and hundreds of thousands of Gazans streamed across the frontier at Rafah to stock up on food and fuel for 10 days before the breach was sealed. Hayya said a blockade Israel has tightened around the Gaza Strip since Hamas violently took over the territory last June was tantamount to “a death penalty being slowly carried out against 1.5 million people in the largest prison in history”. “We urge all concerned parties to intervene to break the siege. Otherwise, we warn of an imminent and unprecedented explosion if the siege continues,” he said. Israel, which controls the Gaza Strip's borders, has restricted the passage of goods and fuel in a bid to maintain pressure on Hamas opposed to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's peace moves with the Jewish state. Israeli leaders have promised to avoid a humanitarian crisis but have said Gazans should not expect to be able to lead normal lives while militant groups in the Hamas-run area continue to fire rockets into southern Israel. __
