Egypt Opens Rafah Border Crossing for Two Days

Rafah, 02 Dzulhijjah 1437/04 September 2016  (MINA) – Egypt opened Rafah border crossing for two days on Saturday to allow crossing of humanitarian cases, WAFA reported, quoting officials as saying.

The crossing was reopened in both directions to allow students studying abroad, residents with work permits in Arab counties, patients and humanitarian cases to cross the border.

Hundreds of Gaza Strip residents reached the crossing since the early hours hoping to get a chance to cross into Egypt.

Nabil al-Agha, a local resident, expressed hope that his son would be able to cross the border to travel to his university in Germany.

Egypt temporarily re-opened the border crossing on Tuesday and closed it again on Thursday to allow Palestinian pilgrims to join the Hajj in Saudi Arabia via Cairo International Airport.

The Rafah border is closed most of the year and opens for two days every two or three months. Egypt cites problems in the Sinai with armed groups as the reason for keeping the border with Gaza closed.

Rafah crossing is Gaza’s main gate to the outside world.

Its other crossing is with Israel, where only special cases with Israeli-army issued permits are allowed to cross it. (T/R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)