The Palestinian authority has opened an international frontier crossing point with Egypt, the first time the authority has had control of an international frontier since the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land started 38 years ago.
Travellers exchanged embraces and some flashed V-for victory signs, happy to be freer to travel and to be processed by Palestinian police rather than Israeli soldiers.
"I feel free and happy as a bird with 10 wings," said Jihad Zanoun, 29, the first Palestinian to have his passport stamped at the Rafah terminal formally opened in a ribbon cutting ceremony a day earlier.
Israel had barred Zanoun from leaving Gaza for three years citing security concerns.
Hundreds of Palestinians, some who had slept there for days, crowded the grounds where buses took them in groups of about 60 to the terminal. Dozens also poured in from Egypt back to Gaza.
About 20 European police monitors were on hand, standing or sitting with the Palestinian officials under a deal brokered by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to reopen Gaza and provide a crucial lifeline to its people and economy.
The Rafah crossing had been largely shut since Israel 's exit from coastal Gaza, due to Israeli claims about security.
Under the deal Israeli officials would watch the crossing alongside Palestinians via videolink to a nearby monitoring station in southern Israel , looking out for suspected militants or any attempts to smuggle in weapons.
Pietro Pistolese, who heads the European Union monitors, said because the terminal was running smoothly, it would be open for five hours on Sunday, up from four hours on Saturday.
The crossing is due to open full time only after all 70 European Union inspectors arrive, probably by mid-December.
The Rafah deployment marks the EU's first monitoring role in the Palestinian territories.