Egypt reopens Gaza crossing for 3 days

By Nour Abu Eisha

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Egyptian authorities on Monday “exceptionally” opened the Rafah border crossing with the blockaded Gaza Strip for three days.

“The terminal will remain open for three days in both directions,” Hamas-run Gaza’s crossings authority said in a statement.

Students, patients and foreign residency holders will be allowed to cross the terminal during the three-day period, the authority said.

An Anadolu Agency correspondent at the crossing said hundreds of travelers have gathered on the Palestinian side of the border since early Monday morning.

According to Gaza’s border crossings authority, roughly 16,000 people in Gaza have registered and are now on the waiting list to leave the strip.

Since the overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi in a 2013 coup, Egypt has kept the border with Gaza mostly sealed.

The long periods of closure at the crossing -- which represents Gaza's only point of access to the outside world not under Israeli control -- have brought the coastal enclave’s nearly 2 million inhabitants to the verge of humanitarian catastrophe.