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As Rafah reopens, Egypt stops Palestinian students from leaving Gaza

December 18, 2017 at 1:00 pm

Palestinians hold banners demanding the permanent opening of the Rafah border crossing in Gaza City on 23 November 2017 [Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency]

Egyptian authorities prevented scores of Palestinian students from leaving the besieged Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing this weekend, Safa reported yesterday.

The crossing had temporarily been opened for four days from Saturday, however Egyptian authorities returned more than 100 students to Gaza after they were questioned by security officials.

Hundreds of Palestinian students had registered their names with Palestinian border authorities in an effort to leave the enclave to begin their studies abroad.

During the 11-year Israeli-Egyptian siege on Gaza, hundreds of students have lost places at high education institutes abroad after they could not travel through the Rafah crossing. Egypt only opened the crossing for 44 days in 2016.

Read: Gazans travel through Rafah during rare opening of the crossing