Egypt holds two Palestinians found with grenade

ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) - Egyptian police detained two Palestinian brothers on Saturday caught carrying a hand grenade after crossing the border from the Gaza Strip, security officials said.

The officials, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said 26-year-old Hani Abdul-Fatah and his brother Rami, 21, were detained at a checkpoint between the Egyptian border town of Rafah and the nearby town of El-Arish.

Egypt has struggled to reseal its border with the coastal strip after Hamas Islamist militants blew up holes in the border wall on January 23, defying an Israeli-led blockade.

Hamas, which runs Gaza after crushing out the forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in June, agreed on Saturday to control the flow of Palestinians through the border and said it expected Egypt to seal the remaining gaps in the frontier wall.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have crossed the border to stock up on much-needed food and other supplies.

But Egypt fears the chaos could allow militants to infiltrate the border. Egyptian police said they detained 15 Islamist militants on Thursday with bomb-making equipment including detonators, plastic bags and explosive material.

(Reporting by Yusri Mohamed, writing by Alaa Shahine, Editing by Matthew Jones)