EGYPTIAN AUTHORITIES CLOSE DOWN THE RAFAH CROSSING

Rafah, 10 Safar 1436/3 December 2014 (MINA) – Egyptian authorities on Tuesday morning closed down Rafah crossing after they exclusively opened it for two days and only in one direction.

According to the Ministry of Interior Crossing Committee, only 554 passengers who were stuck for over a month in Egypt due to the closure of the borders, were finally able to travel through, Palestine News Network (PNN) quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

It’s worth mentioning that thousands of patients and students stuck on both sides of the borders suffer from catastrophic sicknesses and living conditions due to the constant closure of the crossing.

Egyptian authorities have been closing the crossing for over a month now due to the incident of Egyptian soldiers attacked in the Sinai desert.

Previously, on Wednesday 26 November 2014, the Egyptian authorities re-opened the Rafah Crossing for two days to let Palestinians stuck in the Cairo airport for about a month enter their land.

The crossing was closed late October after terrorist groups attacked Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai desert, which resulted in the killing of 30 soldiers. The crossing is the only non-Israeli access point to the Palestinian territory.

Tribune reported that the closure of the crossing has also prevented thousands of Gazans from accessing medical treatment or higher education in Egypt and beyond, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in its latest report.

During the first six months of the year, when the crossing was closed for a total of 22 days, an average of 6,400 people crossed each month, it added.(T/P008/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)