EGYPT TO ALLOW PASSAGE TO GAZA PILGRIMS ‘SOON’

Cairo, 19 Rabi’ul Akhir 1436/9 February 2015 (MINA) – A high-ranking Egyptian official said Sunday that Egypt would open the Rafah crossings to allow Muslim pilgrims from Gaza to leave for pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Ma’an that Egypt would coordinate with Palestinians in Gaza on “the humanitarian level” and that Egypt would defend the Palestinian cause in international settings.

Meanwhile, he said Egyptian forces would continue to create a 5,000-meter buffer zone with Gaza and destroy tunnels used to smuggle goods into the Strip, Ma’an News quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Awad Abu Mathkor, the head of a pilgrimage company in the Gaza Strip, had told Ma’an earlier on Sunday that some 7,500 Palestinians who registered for the pilgrimage still awaited permission to leave the territory through Rafah.

Rafah is the principle connection between Palestinians in Gaza and the outside world, and its regular closure is part of the jointly enforced Israeli-Egyptian blockade on the tiny territory.

The blockade has led to frequent humanitarian crises and armed conflicts with Israel, and is currently limiting the entry of construction material for the devastated Strip’s post-war reconstruction, promised by the international community.(T/R05/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)