Hamas militants have used a bulldozer to try to open a new passage through the border fence between Gaza and Egypt after Egyptian troops tried to close off the area. Gunfire could be heard as thousands of Palestinian onlookers cheered on the militants as they rammed the chain-link and barbed-wire fence at the crossing near Rafah in southern Gaza. Egyptian security forces earlier announced by loudspeaker in towns near the border that the frontier would be closed from this afternoon, with an unknown number of Palestinians still in Egypt.Ten of thousands of people have crossed the border in the past three days after militants blew a hole in the border fence in the divided frontier town of Rafah. A security source said the deadline was intended to give Gazans who have crossed over since Tuesday sufficient time to return home. The announcements were made both on the Egyptian side of Rafah and in the North Sinai provincial capital of El-Arish further west.