Cairo - Egyptian president Hosny Mubarak said on Tuesday that his country will not fully open its border with the Gaza Strip unless Palestinian Authority or European Union observers are in control of the crossing point.

He explained that until then the borders will only be opened for humanitarian reasons.

Mubarak reiterated that "Egypt denounces the Israeli aggression over Gaza."

He also criticized Hamas, without naming the Palestinian militant Islamist movement, saying "no one should attempt to gain political capital from the blood bath in the Gaza Strip."

Egypt has been sharply criticized over the past four days for appearing unwilling to open its border with Gaza to allow Palestinian civilians to flee the air attacks.

Egypt has recently kept tight control on the Rafah border crossing with Gaza, apparently fearing an influx of refugees and Hamas operatives such as occurred in January
2008 when the Palestinian militant organization blew up the border fortifications to ease the blockade on the territory.

A previous agreement had ceded supervision of the Rafah border crossing point to European Union observers. The EU mission at Rafah has not been in effective operation since the Hamas takeover of Gaza in 2007.

On Sunday Lebanese militant leader Hassan Nasrallah urged Egyptians to take to the street in their "millions" to force their government to open the Gaza-Egypt border.

Anti-Egyptian demonstrations have taken place in Beirut, Tehran, Amman and Damascus. (dpa)