Palestinians block Gaza crossing

"We have the right to earn a living with dignity", "No to humiliation at Erez", "Erez crossing, crossing to death", chanted the protestors, an AFP reporter witnessed.

They also called for boycotting their employers at the Erez industrial zone and not a single worker went to work Tuesday.

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Mohammed as-Sheikh, 41, was crushed to death Monday by a crowd of fellow workers waiting to cross into the estate, witnesses and Palestinian security said.

They said Israeli soldiers were too slow in checking the workers, who do not need a permit, provided their employers put their names on a daily list of those allowed into the industrial estate.

But the workers are still controlled for weapons and explosives. A woman suicide bomber blow herself up at that spot on January 14, killing four Israelis.

An Israeli spokesman said Sheikh died of a heart attack.

Meanwhile, the Israeli parliament's finance committee approved late Monday the transfer of nearly 20 million dollars for building work in the occupied Palestinian territories and east Jerusalem, sources in the Knesset said.