Egypt to open Gaza border for three days

31 October 2009

Rafah, Egypt - Egypt will open its border crossing with the Gaza Strip on Sunday for three days, Egyptian security officials told the German Press Agency dpa on Saturday.

The decision will allow “humanitarian cases” including Palestinians who have completed treatments in Egyptian hospitals to return back to Gaza.

It will also allow students and patients who want to be treated in hospitals to enter Egypt, they said.

Egypt opened the border after coordinating with the Palestinian movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.

With brief exceptions, the Egyptian-Gazan border has been closed since Hamas security forces wrested control of the territory from Fatah security forces in 2007.

Under an agreement brokered by the US in 2005, the Rafah crossing cannot open without the presence of the Palestinian president’s forces and European Union monitors.

Egypt sometimes opens the crossing for humanitarian cases and for students to pass to and from the Gaza Strip.