Israel shuts Erez crossing to Gaza workers

GAZA CITY, Palestine

Israeli authorities on Sunday closed the Erez (Beit Hanoun) crossing in the northern Gaza Strip to Palestinian workers, according to the Hamas-run Interior Ministry.

“Israel partially closed the Erez (Beit Hanoun) crossing this morning,” ministry spokesman Iyad al-Buzum told Anadolu Agency.

He said patients, foreigners and a certain group of businessmen will only be allowed to cross the terminal.

On Saturday, the Israeli army said the crossing will remain closed until further notice in the wake of rocket fire from the Palestinian territory.

"Following the firing of rockets from the Gaza Strip, we inform you that on Sunday, the Erez crossing will remain closed to workers and merchants,” the coordinator of the Israeli government's operations in the Palestinian territories, Ghassan Alyan, said in a statement.

On Friday, the Israeli army said it had detected two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, without causing any damage.

Hundreds of Palestinian workers use the terminal to cross into Israel for work.

A total of 12,000 Palestinians hold work permits in Israel.

In March, the Israeli government said it would raise the number of work permits to Palestinians to 20,000, according to Israeli media.

Tensions have been running high across the Palestinian territories since the beginning of April amid repeated Israeli arrest campaigns in the occupied West Bank and daily settler incursions into the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar