EGYPT TO OPEN RAFAH CROSSING FOR TWO DAYS

Cairo, 5 Rabi’ul Awwal 1435/7 January 2014 (MINA) – The Egyptian authorities have decided to open Rafah crossing on Wednesday and Thursday, Palestine’s ambassador to Egypt, Barakat al-Farra, said Tuesday.

“The Egyptian side told us that the terminal will be open on Wednesday and Thursday,” Maher Abu Sabha, the head of Gaza’s crossings and border agency, Wafa news agency reported quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).

He said that priority will be given to patients and students to cross the terminal.

The crossing is the only way in or out for the 1.8 million residents of the Gaza Strip since the Israeli blockade imposed on Gaza in 2007.

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Egypt opens the crossing occasionally mainly for humanitarian cases.

The crossing was closed following deterioration in relations between Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip since 2006, and Egypt due to Hamas’ open support for the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood movement in Egypt and ousted President Mohammad Morsi.

Egyptian authorities have tightened control over the border with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip since the army’s July 3 ouster of elected president Mohamed Morsi.

For the past weeks, Egyptian authorities have repeatedly closed the Rafah crossing, which – thanks to a seven-year Israeli embargo – represents Gaza’s only means of accessing the outside world.

The Egyptian army has also launched a major campaign to destroy a network of underground tunnels linking Gaza and Egypt, which in recent years have been used to smuggle vital commodities into the coastal enclave. (T/P02/P04)

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Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/news/271382–a