Palestinian officials closed the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on Sunday, the terminal's director Ayyoub Abu Sha'ar said.

Closed out of frustration, Abu Sha'ar said the Egyptian authority's 'mechanism' at the terminal was unclear, citing Egypt's decision to close the crossing on Saturday without coordinating with Palestinian officials.

He said said operations had been halted after disagreements about capacity and coordination, and would not resume until officials on both sides came to an agreement on its operation.

Egypt opened the terminal several hours later than scheduled Saturday without informing Palestinian officials. Several buses of Palestinians were left waiting at the Egyptian gate, and dozens of Palestinians tried to storm the border.

Egyptian security sources said the delay was due to maintenance works underway at the crossing. Egyptian authorities opened the crossing on Saturday afternoon, but only for passengers on foot.

The director of border crossings in Gaza, Salameh Barakeh, said the decision was difficult to implement due to the number of patients, elderly people and children who were traveling among others across the sole Egyptian exit from Gaza.

Abu Sha'ar said consultations were ongoing between Gaza's foreign ministry and the Egyptian government to resolve technical and administrative problems at the terminal. He said the crossing would reopen as soon as the issues were fixed.

A senior Egyptian official said Rafah was "open in both directions" including for vehicles, but that the Palestinian side had shut down operations in Gaza.

"Passage from Egypt to the Gaza Strip is functioning normally, but no Palestinians have arrived in Egypt because Hamas has closed the terminal on the pretext of examining, with the Egyptians, the mechanism for its operation," he added.

Egypt reopened the Rafah crossing last month, ending its cooperation with a blockade Israel imposed in 2006, after Gaza-based militants snatched an Israeli soldier.

The blockade was tightened in 2007 when the Islamist movement Hamas seized control of the territory, with Egypt cooperating by tightly restricting movement through Rafah.

Rafah is Gaza's only border crossing not controlled by Israel, and news of Egypt's decision to reopen it was warmly welcomed in the coastal strip, though Israel strongly criticised the move.

Cairo's decision to permanently reopen Rafah came more than three months after former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak resigned following 18 days of massive street protests against his rule.