EGYPT OPENS RAFAH CROSSING FOR 4 DAYS

Gaza City, 2 Dhulqo’dah 1436/17 August 2015 (MINA) – Egyptian authorities on Monday opened the Rafah crossing with Gaza for four days, officials said, after months of closure.

Muhammad Abu Zayed, Palestinian director of borders and crossings, said that the crossing would be open for students, medical patients, and other humanitarian cases.

The Ministry of Interior in Gaza says at least 20,000 Palestinians need to use the crossing with Egypt, which has only been open for a total of 15 days in 2015, Maan News Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

The Rafah crossing is the primary lifeline to the outside world for Gaza’s 1.8 million residents, but has been severely restricted by the Egyptian authorities in the past year, largely due to a militant insurgency in the northern Sinai Peninsula.

Egypt has done little to alleviate Israel’s eight-year blockade on the Gaza Strip, which has severely restricted imports and exports into the territory and denied Gazans freedom of movement. (T/P010/R04)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)