Egypt reopens Rafah crossing with Gaza for four days

The Egyptian authorities on Wednesday reopened the Rafah border crossing with Gaza Strip for four days, officials said.

The Hamas-run interior ministry of Gaza said reopening the crossing point, which was for the second time in June and the fourth time this year, was not permanent and it was only to let patients and students to cross from Gaza to Egypt, Xinhua newsd agency reported.

It said the crossing was reopened to the Palestinians from Gaza stranded at different airports in various Arab and foreign countries.

On Wednesday morning, hundreds of Palestinians gathered at the outside gate of the crossing in the town of Rafah in southern Gaza Strip, waiting for their turn to get into buses and travel to Egypt.

Hamas security and police officers were deployed to organise the people into the buses, which then cross through the Egyptian gate of the crossing.

Egypt reopened Rafah crossing point in the first week of June for four days, and it was also temporarily reopened in February and May this year.

According to the interior ministry, some 25,000 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip need to travel either to Egypt or to the world through Egypt.

--IANS

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