The Egyptian authorities resealed their country's border with the Gaza Strip , but failed to persuade Hamas to sign up to a previous agreement whereby Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which is run by Fatah, a rival Palestinian group, would oversee the border and crossing point.

ECONOMIST: Politics this week

Then-prime minister Ariel Sharon made a deal with Mubarak to deploy Egyptian forces to the Sinai to rebuild the border and man the crossing point at Rafah.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: The perils of a remilitarized Sinai

Rafah is the crossing point on the border between Egypt and Gaza.

NPR: New Gaza Agreement Met with Cautious Optimism

The road reaches its highest point as it goes past the abandoned border crossing into Spain, and you descend again into a small Mediterranean town.

BBC: Over the Pyrenees to Dali��s house

The recent returnees are understood to have taken a considerable risk in the crossing of the Mereb river which forms the border at that point.

BBC: Eritreans return from Ethiopia

On the way into town from the lakeside border crossing with Rwanda, hundreds more people have gathered at a water distribution point.

BBC: Goma resilient despite devastation