A look at Gaza-Egypt border barrier

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WHAT IT'S MADE OF: For most of its seven-mile length, the barrier is corrugated sheet metal, with short stretches of concrete blocks and of barbed wire. Through the border town of Rafah, where the breach occurred, it is metal. Its height ranges from eight to nine feet. It was built by Israel, starting in 2001 after a surge in Israeli-Palestinian fighting.

WHO'S IN CHARGE: The Egyptian side is patrolled by the Egyptian military, while the Gaza side was policed by the Israeli military until it withdrew its forces in September 2005. Palestinian Authority forces took over, but they were ousted last summer in a bloody takeover by the militant Islamic Hamas movement, whose militiamen are at the frontier.

OPENINGS, CLOSINGS: Since the Hamas takeover, the Gaza-Egypt border has been closed for most of the time. Immediately following the Israeli pullout, Gazans broke through the wall and crossed for several days until Egyptian guards restored order. The barrier was breached again in 2006, once by explosives and once with a bulldozer.

HOW EFFECTIVE: Despite the wall, smuggling of arms and contraband is rife, enabled by tunnels under the barrier. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Egypt was doing a "terrible" job of policing, and Israel sent to Washington what it said was a video of Egyptian soldiers allowing Palestinian arms smuggling. Earlier this month, Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., said Egypt had agreed to work with U.S. trainers and spend $23 million of its U.S. military aid on equipment to detect tunnels and tighten security.

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