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Egypt agrees to let Palestinian students through Rafah Crossing

November 7, 2017 at 10:14 am

Palestinians wait behind fences for relatives coming through the Rafah border [Abed Rahim Khatib/Apaimages]

The Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education announced on Monday that the Egyptian authorities had agreed to let most of the Palestinian students in Gaza who have scholarships in overseas institutions leave through the Rafah Crossing, Quds Net News has reported.

The ministry said that it had exerted a lot of effort in cooperation with the Palestinian embassy in Cairo and related parties to secure the passage of the students. It expressed its thanks to the Egyptian government for such “great cooperation” in this regard.

Since the start of the Israeli siege on Gaza 11 years ago, Egypt has largely closed its border crossing with Gaza, which was the only gateway to the world for the Palestinians in the enclave. More than 30,000 people needing to travel for urgent medical treatment, education or employment are registered with the Interior Ministry in Gaza.

Egypt has opened the Rafah Crossing for a few days occasionally throughout the year, but only a relatively few Palestinians have been able to travel during these periods.

Read: EU, Israel mull possible return of observer forces to Rafah crossing