RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Egyptian riot police and armored vehicles restricted Gaza motorists to a small border area of Egypt on Saturday, in the second attempt in two days to restore control over the chaotic frontier breached by Hamas militants.

At least 38 members of the Egyptian security forces have been hospitalized, some in critical condition, because of cross-border confrontations, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said. The minister complained of "provocations" at the border, a thinly veiled reprimand of Hamas, and said that while Egypt is ready to ease the suffering of Gazans, this should not endanger Egyptian lives.

In the West Bank, meanwhile, moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stuck to his tough conditions for resuming contacts with Gaza's Hamas rulers, dimming prospects for Egypt's proposal to have the two Palestinian rivals come to Cairo for talks on resolving the border crisis.

Earlier, Hamas had accepted Egypt's proposal, and Hamas hardliner Sami Abu Zuhri accused Abbas of trying to bypass Hamas: "His statements are a rejection of the Egyptian initiative."

Abbas insists he will only talk to Hamas if it retreats from its violent June takeover of Gaza, something Hamas is unlikely to do. Abbas renewed his offer of deploying his forces at the Gaza crossings, as a way of ending the closure of Gaza by Israel and Egypt.

On the Gaza-Egypt border, traffic of cars and pedestrians remained heavy Saturday, four days after Hamas militants blew down the border wall, sending hundreds of thousands of Gazans rushing into Egypt.

In an attempt to restore some control, Egyptian armored vehicles blocked the main street of the Egyptian border town of Rafah.

Earlier Saturday, dozens of riot police formed human chains to block the two passages cut through the breached border, before once again giving up and allowing the cars to cross into the Egyptian side of the divided town. Authorities were making renewed efforts, however, to keep them out of the rest of the country.

Israel, meanwhile, expressed growing concern about the possible influx of Palestinian militants into areas of Egypt that border Israel. The Israeli military announced Saturday that its troops were on heightened alert along the border with Egypt.