For the first time in years, Egypt opens Gaza’s border crossing ‘forever’

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Egypt on Tuesday opened its border with the Gaza Strip “forever”, a security source said, as it was hosting inter-Palestinian settlement talks.

“This is not a normal or routine opening. This is the first time in years that the Rafah cross has opened endlessly,” the source said.

A girl looks forward through the window of a vehicle whose top is loaded with suitcases, while she waits for a place to leave the Rafah border to travel from the Gaza Strip into Egypt A girl looks forward through the window of a vehicle whose top is loaded with suitcases, while she waits for a place to leave the Rafah border to travel from the Gaza Strip into Egypt

A girl looks forward through the window of a vehicle whose top is loaded with suitcases, while she waits for a place to leave the Rafah border to travel from the Gaza Strip into Egypt

(Photo: AFP)

“It used to open just three or four days at a time,” he said.

Rafah is the only way to the outside world for Gaza – a densely populated fort of about two million Palestinians, half of whom live below the poverty line – which is not controlled by Israel.

Gaza residents expressed a mixture of horror and relief on Tuesday as they entered Egypt.

For the first time in years, Egypt opens Gaza’s border crossing ‘forever’

Hamas forces at the Rafah crossroads

(Photo: AFP)

“I have been waiting six months for the level crossing to open … The closures again cost a semester of my studies. I hope it is very permanent,” said Ibrahim al university student -Shanti, 19, to AFP.

Yasser Zanoun, 50, urged political leaders to negotiate a permanent settlement for the poor humanitarian situation in Gaza, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This crossing needs to be open 24 hours a day, all year round. There are a lot of humanitarian issues that are terrible,” Zanoun said.

Passengers sit next to their luggage as they wait to cross the border into the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, in Rafah, Gaza Strip Passengers sit next to their luggage as they wait to cross the border into the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, in Rafah, Gaza Strip

Passengers sit next to their luggage as they wait to cross the border into the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, in Rafah, Gaza Strip

(Photo: AP)

The opening came on the second day of talks between Palestinian groups in Cairo aimed at clearing the way for the first elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip from 2006.

The Hamas Islamic movement won an unexpected landslide in the last vote, a victory unrecognized by Fatah president Mahmud Abbas, which led to bloody clashes the following year and a split in Palestinian rule, as when Egypt has occasionally closed the Rafah corridor.

Fatah has run the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas has held power in the Gaza Strip since 2007, the year Israel severely blocked the coast.

.Source