EGYPT RENEGES ON PROMISES TO OPEN RAFAH CROSSING

Palestinians wait at the Gaza side of the crossing with Egypt. (Photo: palestinianpundit.blogspot.com) — **Palestinians wait at the Gaza side of the border crossing with Egypt.** (Photo: palestinianpundit.blogspot.com)

Gaza, 21 Rab’ul Awwal 1436/12 January 2015 (MINA) – The Egyptian authorities went back on promises to unblock the Rafah crossing on humanitarian grounds, just a couple of hours after they decided to open the passageway for three days as of Tuesday.

Head of Gaza’s border crossings authority said the Egyptian side broke its promises to open the crossing just two hours after it had notified us of their intents to unlock the route for three days—Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday allegedly due to the disappearance of a security officer from an Egyptian seaport.

Abu Sabha voiced deep disappointment over the annulment, warning of the serious repercussions of such a move on thousands of Gaza’s patients, humanitarian cases, students, and stranded wives, The Palestinian Information Center quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

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He slammed the alleged abduction of the Egyptian officer, dubbing it an injudicious act that only sharpens the crisis rocking the besieged enclave.

Earlier, the Egyptian side notified the Gaza’s border crossings authority of their intents to open the Rafah crossing, blocked for several months, for three days starting Tuesday.

Meanwhile, a series of live snapshots broadcast by al-Jazeera TV revealed the damage wrought on the residents of the Egyptian Rafah border town due to the Egyptian army’s preparation to create a buffer zone along the Gaza borders.

The Egyptian army stepped up combing operations, using a drove of Apache helicopters, in search for the missing soldier.

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The pictures document the launch of a series of demolition processes by the Egyptian military forces. The camera captured the army as flattening large swaths of Rafah and blowing up civilian homes and structures to widen the buffer zone.

Two Sinai citizens, obviously subjected to heavy gunfire shots, were proclaimed dead in the process.

Another four-year-old child died of freezing air inside one of the makeshift tents set up in the area after the Egyptian army blew up her family home in Rafah some few weeks ago. (T/P007/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)