Egypt has said it will not use force to send back Palestinians who crossed from the Gaza Strip in large numbers after parts of the border were breached.
Foreign ministry spokesman Hosan Zeki said the border would be closed again when all the Palestinians had returned.
Earlier Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said he had let the Gazans in.
Tens of thousands have surged in to buy food and other supplies made scarce by an Israeli blockade - aimed at stopping rocket attacks from Gaza.
Egyptian police took no action to stop people crossing but Israel urged Egypt to restore security.
Map of the Egypt-Gaza border area
The blockade imposed last week eased slightly on Tuesday to allow some fuel and medicines through, but Israel has now reimposed the fuel restrictions.
We want to buy rice and sugar, milk and wheat and some cheese
Ibrahim Abu Taha,
Gaza resident
Eyewitness: Drama at border
In pictures: Border breached
Gaza diary: Day One
Israel and the US have expressed concern about the events at the Egyptian border, and Israel fears weapons could be smuggled into Gaza.
Mr Zeki said Egypt was trying to contain the situation but had "great understanding" of the people of Gaza and their need for basic supplies.
People had packed into cars and donkey carts or crossed the border on foot when it was breached.
President Mubarak said he had told his troops to "let them come to eat and buy food and go back, as long as they are not carrying weapons".
GAZA BLOCKADE
17 January: Israel seals border following rise in rocket attacks
20 January: Gaza's only power plant to shuts down
22 January: Israel eases restrictions
22 January: Egyptian border guards disperse Palestinian protest against closure
23 January: Border wall breached
The BBC's Heba Saleh in Cairo says Egypt has little choice but to welcome the influx, as there is deep public sympathy for the Palestinians.
Egypt can only hope Israel will ease its restrictions, she adds.
A total of 350,000 Gazans crossed the Egyptian border, Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported.
Hamas has not taken responsibility for breaching the border but quickly moved in to police it, the paper said, confiscating seven pistols from a man returning to Gaza.
Haaretz quoted one Gazan, Mohammed Abu Ghazel, as saying he had crossed the border three times with cigarettes which he had sold for five times the price he bought them.
"This can feed my family for a month," he said.
Talks offer
The BBC's Tim Franks in Rafah on the Gaza-Egypt border says it will be difficult for the Egyptians to reseal the border on their own, and Hamas has very little incentive to co-operate.
EGYPT-GAZA BORDER
12km (7.4 miles) long
Egyptian side patrolled by 750 soldiers under 2005 agreement with Israel
Border crossing terminal south of town of Rafah
PA control of terminal under EU supervision collapsed after Hamas takeover of Gaza in June 2007
Border closed almost continuously since
Gaza's rocket threat to Israel
'Wartime' on Israeli border
Profile: Gaza Strip
Palestinians have broken through the border before, in 2005, and it was quickly resealed with barbed wire, but reports say that on this occasion two-thirds of the border wall was destroyed.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniya has called for urgent talks with Egypt and his Palestinian rival, President Mahmoud Abbas, on border crossings.
"We do not want to control everything, we are part of the Palestinian people," Mr Haniya said, apparently in response to an offer from Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayad to control Gaza's borders - so far rejected by Israel.
Hamas has controlled Gaza since last June.
In recent months the border has been mostly sealed, in an understanding between Israel and Egypt.
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