Israeli forces stormed the Palestinian side of a Gaza commercial crossing and conducted search operations before withdrawing, a Palestinian official said on Monday.

During the operation, the Israeli soldiers held nearly 10 Palestinian truck drivers and questioned them, Ra'ed Fatouh, an economy ministry official, told Xinhua.

Witnesses said there was no violence before or during the raid at Karni crossing point in the eastern Gaza city.

Israel sealed off all crossing points into Gaza in June 2007 when Hamas took over the coastal Strip. Israel only allows basic goods and keeps minimum flow of cargo into the territory.

Israel plans to shut down Karni and depend on Kerem Shalom crossing, located at the gathering of Israeli, Egyptian and Palestinian territories in southern Gaza Strip, recent Israeli media reports said.

Fatouh said that the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is doing urgent contacts to stop Israel from replacing Karni crossing with Kerem Shalom because the new terminal doesn't have Karni's capacities.

(Xinhua News Agency October 27, 2009)