GAZA, Palestine
Egyptian authorities reopened the Rafah crossing on the border with the Gaza Strip on Saturday, a Palestinian official said.
Dozens of Palestinians with humanitarian needs were allowed to cross into Egypt while Gazans who had been stranded for weeks on the Egyptian side of the border were allowed to return home, Maher Abu Sabha, the head of Gaza's border authority, told Anadolu Agency.
Egyptian authorities had told the Palestinian side on Wednesday that they decided to reopen the terminal for three days.
Abu Sabha called on the Egyptian authorities to permanently open the Rafah crossing, citing that there are around 15,000 Palestinians with humanitarian needs who require travel, including 4,000 patients and 3,000 students.
Egypt has tightened its grip on the border with the blockaded Gaza Strip since the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi – the country's first freely elected president – after a military coup in 2013.
The repeated closures of the Rafah crossing, Gaza's only access to the outside world not under Israeli control, have made life even more difficult for Gaza's roughly 1.9 million residents.
