At least fifteen people were wounded today when violent clashes broke out at Gaza’s Rafah border crossing as Palestinian protesters tried to force their way out of the besieged territory into Egypt.

Gunfire erupted on both sides as Egyptian security forces attempted to push back hundreds of protesters, many of them women, attending a demonstration called by the Islamist group Hamas. The crossing has been the scene of several protests called by Hamas in recent days after Israel imposed a punishing blockade on the territory in response to persistent rocket and mortar fire.

The lights came back on in parts of Gaza City today as Israel eased the lockdown, now in its fifth day, to allow some fuel into the impoverished territory. But Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel warned that the shipment was a "one-off", with further deliveries contingent on a reduction in rocket and mortar attacks.

Though militants fired 17 rockets at Israel early today - five hitting Israeli territory without causing casualties - attacks have fallen markedly in recent days, enabling the Israeli government to claim the blockade has been effective.

Over the past week, Israeli strikes against militants in Gaza killed 38 people, most of them gunmen, while militants fired more than 200 rockets and mortar rounds into Israel, lightly wounding at least 10 people.

At least four Palestinians were shot and wounded in the exchange at the Rafah crossing, according to medics, while Egyptian security sources reported that 11 policemen had been injured – one by gunfire and the others by flying rocks. Several bloodied people were rushed from the scene on stretchers but the extent of their injuries was not immediately clear.

The protest started this morning as Palestinians, mostly women and young people, gathered at the crossing, demanding to be let into Egypt amid an Israeli blockade preventing fuel, food and humanitarian supplies from reaching the Gaza Strip. As the protesters tried to push across to the Egyptian side, security forces first subdued them with water cannons, detaining dozens.

Amid the tumult, a group of 40 women and 10 young people managed to break through to the Egyptian side of the crossing - Gaza’s only border crossing that bypasses Israel.

The group ran past Egyptian security forces who had retreated from the crowd after gunshots were heard, an Egyptian security source said. They were later caught and returned to Gaza.

“No-one in the world sees us, no-one is helping us,” Shamiya Arafat, a heavily veiled mother of six, said.

“The entire Arab world should be helping us, but they are standing with Israel because they are scared of America and of Israel."

Umm Mohammed, a 42-year-old mother of five, echoed such sentiments. “Why doesn’t Egypt open the crossing?” she wailed. “Because (President George W. Bush) gives them dollars."

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