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Friday, May 29, 2015
Rafah crossing resealed by Egypt after three days

Rafah crossing resealed after three days
May 29, 2015 11:38 P.M. (Updated: May 29, 2015 1:01 P.M.)
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=765665

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Egyptian authorities closed the Rafah crossing
Thursday evening after it was open for three days to enable those stuck in
Egypt and other countries to return to the Gaza Strip.

Director of the Gaza border and crossings Maher Abu Sabha said that a total
of 1,629 Palestinians were able to return to the Gaza Strip from the Egypt
between Tuesday and Thursday.

Traffic was allowed only to enter from Egypt, however exit from the strip
was not permitted.

The crossing currently has no date scheduled for reopening.

Some 15,000 people are registered with the Gaza Ministry of Interior to
travel via the Rafah crossing, 3,000 of them are ill, and over 2,500 are
students.

The number registered is a fraction of the 1.8 million residents who have
remained under a Israeli-imposed blockade since 2007.

Egypt has not done much to alleviate the blockade. Egypt's relations with
the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip are worsening as attacks on policemen and
military targets have continued to increase. Such attacks are allegedly in
retaliation for a brutal government crackdown on supporters of Muslim
Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi, who was ousted by the army in July
2013.

Scores of Egyptian soldiers and policemen have been killed in such attacks,
many of which have been claimed by Sinai Province militants, formerly known
as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, but changed its name after affiliating with the
Islamic State militant group.

The rising tensions in Egypt have led to continual closures of the Rafah
crossing, as Egyptian authorities have accused Hamas of aiding militants who
have waged a string of deadly attacks on security forces in the Sinai
Peninsula. The Egyptian army has also created a wide buffer zone along the
border with Gaza aimed at preventing infiltration by militants.

Last week dozens of Palestinians were sentenced to death by an Egyptian
court for allegedly carrying out espionage on behalf of the outlawed Muslim
Brotherhood and Hamas between 2005 and 2013, "with the aim of perpetrating
terror attacks in the country in order to spread chaos and topple the
state."

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