The closure of the Rafah crossing over the Israeli attack left nearly 2,500 Palestinians stranded at the terminal.

Signs of depressions covered the faces of many Palestinians after the power plant attack.

"We could endure without salary payment but not without electricity," said Abu Rami, a shop owner.

Gazans have already been living under a Western-led economic boycott since Hamas came to power, leaving government workers unpaid for four months and business almost dead.

Abu Khaled, a 50-year-old father of seven from Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, agreed.

"I fear for my children, for my neighbors. The world is unjust. We are left alone to face the Israeli beast," he complained.

The Israeli offensive against Gaza was ordered by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert after an Israeli soldier went missing during a Palestinian attack on an Israeli military post on Sunday, June 25.

Israeli tanks backed by helicopter gunships and artillery pushed into southern Gaza Strip early on Wednesday.

Other Israeli units were on standby to enter the central and northern Gaza Strip.

The incursion comes less than a year after Israel withdrew from Gaza following 38 years of occupation.

Anxious men, women and children packed into rickety carts and cars fled border areas of southern Gaza in fear of their lives on Wednesday after Israeli troops rolled into the territory.

To the sound of fire from combat helicopters, horse-drawn carts loaded down with families trundled into Rafah, an impoverished city where more than 40 Palestinians were killed in a devastating Israeli military raid in 2004.

Humanitarian Crisis

Palestinian Minister of Prisoner Affairs, Wasfi Kabha, accused Israel of seeking to create a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territories.

"They hit the bridges, they hit the power station, so there will be a problem in water supply and health services," he told the BBC.

Walid Sulaiman, executive director of the Palestinian electricity company, said Israel was deliberately destroying the Palestinian infrastructure.

"They are trying to being the lives of Palestinians to a standstill," he told IOL.

"The power station would need no less than five months to repair and re-operate," he estimated.

Economist Omar Shaaban said electricity cut-off will have a long-term economic impact on the impoverished Gaza Strip and the entire occupied Palestinian lands.

"The Palestinian economy will loose tens of millions of dollars. Power is a major factor in any industry," he said.

The expert excluded any short-term solution to the crisis triggered by the plant bombing.

Stranded

The Israeli attack on Gaza has also resulted in the closure of the Rafah crossing, the Palestinians only window to the outside world, leaving more than 2,500 Palestinians stranded at the Egyptian side of the terminal.

"Women, children and elder have been stranded for four days at the Rafah crossing," Dr. Gamal Abdul-Salam of the Arab Doctors' Union told IOL.

"They are living in horrible conditions, suffering lack of food and water," he added.

Abdul-Salam appealed to the United Nations and international aid organizations to intervene to have the border crossing reopened.

The Rafah crossing was closed after the withdrawal of European monitors over the Israeli threats of a major offensive against the Gaza Strip.