Mubarak says Egypt letting in Palestinians for food

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said on Wednesday he had ordered security forces to let people in from Gaza just to buy food, but said rival Palestinian factions needed to reach agreement to allow a permanent solution for Gaza.

Mubarak's remarks were the first indication from the Egyptian authorities on how they intend to handle the sudden influx of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza, which has been under Israeli blockade for most of the time since June.

"I told them: 'Let them come in to eat and buy food, then they go back, as long as they are not carrying weapons," Mubarak told reporters at a Cairo book fair.

Palestinians blew openings in the wall between Egypt and Gaza overnight and Palestinian civilians poured across from dawn, taking advantage of the unexpected access to supplies.

Mubarak said that for a permanent solution for Gaza the two Palestinian groups, Fatah and Hamas, needed to reach their own agreement. Egypt has tried to bring about reconciliation between the Islamist group Hamas, which controls Gaza, and Fatah, which runs the West Bank.

"But if we speak to one Palestinian party we find the other party gets angry. If we ask them to negotiate without preconditions, some of them get angry," he said.

"There are many problems between them but I do not want to get into the details," Mubarak added.

He said Egypt did not intend to withdraw its ambassador from Israel in protest at the blockade of Gaza. "If that happened, I wouldn't be able to talk to the Israelis. One has to be reasonable in such matters," he added.

Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said earlier that the Egyptian authorities planned to "contain" the situation on the Gaza border and were holding inter-agency consultations on how to achieve that objective.

The spokesman said he could give no details of the options under consideration until the government takes a decision, possibly within a few hours.

Under the arrangements agreed after Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza in 2005, the Rafah crossing could open only with Israeli consent. When it has been open, the European Union has provided monitors.

(Writing by Jonathan Wright; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)