Egypt opens Rafah crossing ‘exceptionally’ in both directions

A bus enters the Rafah border to Egypt on 16 August 2017 [Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu Agency]

Egyptian authorities today opened the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip “exceptionally” in both directions, to allow humanitarian cases to leave the Strip and the return of stranded travellers.

The crossing was opened before noon today to allow buses of passengers to travel to Egypt. It will remain open for four days, the Palestinian Embassy in Cairo said.

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.

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