Egypt offers ‘complete and absolute support’ for closing Rafah Crossing

Egypt’s parliament spokesman has announced the council’s complete and absolute support for the Egyptian authorities’ decision to close the Rafah crossing from tomorrow.

The movement of goods and vehicles is no longer allowed under the pretext of monitoring violations carried out by Hamas.

Saleh Hassaballah said in a statement yesterday: “Egyptian national security is a red line and it cannot be tolerated. Therefore, the Egyptian state will never allow a return to security chaos and the penetration of the Egyptian borders with the forces of evil, darkness and terrorism,” in reference to the 2011 revolution.

He added that Egyptians “stand united behind the wise leadership of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in the face of the malicious and demonic designs of the forces of evil.”

The army is watching out for attempts to overthrow the government, he continued, after its success in liberating it from the rule of religious fascism, in reference to the coup against the late President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

READ: Egypt reopens border crossing with Gaza

On Sunday, the Palestinian Interior Ministry announced that that the Rafah crossing with the Gaza Strip would open this past Monday for four days, until Thursday, so long as travellers were able to show a negative coronavirus test.

It was the third time the Egyptian authorities had opened the Rafah crossing since March.

Hamas has been in talks with Egyptian officials about Palestinian reconciliation and improving the humanitarian suffering in the Strip.

Reports have suggested that the government in Gaza was in discussion with the Egyptian authorities over opening the crossing permanently.

Thousands of Palestinians urgently need to pass through Rafah whilst others are stranded abroad and unable to return home.

Egypt has consistently accused Hamas of terror attacks aimed at its security forces in the Sinai Peninsula and used this as a pretext to shut the border crossing.

The decision to do so has been framed within the context of Al- Sisi’s war on terror under which not only the local Bedouin population have suffered, but also Palestinians in Gaza who have had to wait endlessly for permission to leave the Strip.