Egypt opened the Rafah land crossing on its borders with the Palestinian Gaza Strip on Tuesday, allowing traffic in both directions and the passage of travellers stranded on both sides.
Maher Abu Sabha, the official responsible for crossings and borders at the Hamas-led government in Gaza, told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday that tens of travellers were allowed to move through the crossing outside Gaza for humanitarian reasons. Simultaneously, he explained, travellers were allowed into the enclave from the Egyptian side.
Abu Sabha, according to the agency, urged Egyptian authorities to open the crossing permanently. He said that 12,000 citizens registered with the government in Gaza were still waiting for their turn to travel, and that most of them are patients seeking treatment.
Cairo had opened the crossing for one week starting 13 June, allowing 3,819 people to move into Egypt, according to a statement by the Gaza government.
Egypt has tightened its grip on the border with the Gaza Strip since 2013, following the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi .
The long periods of closure at the crossing, Gaza's only point of access to the outside world not under Israeli control, have made life even more difficult for Gaza's roughly 1.9 million residents.
The crossing has been a sensitive issue for the Egyptian government, which attributes the closures to security concerns amid continuous attacks against its security forces in North Sinai.
