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Rafah crossing opened for three days

February 8, 2018 at 3:21 am

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

The Egyptian authorities have decided to open the Rafah crossing for three days starting Wednesday through Friday in both directions, the Palestinian Embassy in Cairo announced yesterday.

Palestine’s ambassador to Egypt and permanent representative at the Arab League, Diab Al-Louh, expressed his sincere thanks to the Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and the Egyptian security services for their efforts to alleviate the Palestinian people’s sufferings in Gaza.

This is the first time for the crossing to be opened since the beginning of 2018. It was last opened in December 2017.

In 2017, the Rafah crossing was opened for 35 days only, with nearly 35,000 humanitarian cases registered with the Egyptian interior ministry.

Rafah crossing and the other crossings in Gaza had been handed over to the Palestinian Authority (PA) following the latest reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas under the auspices of the Egyptian intelligence.

Read: Hundreds protest against continued closure of Rafah Crossing