Egypt temporarily opened its sole border crossing into the Gaza Strip Sunday, a Palestinian border official said.
The official, Maher Abu Sabha, said the Rafah crossing will remain open for two days. Several hundred Palestinians have already crossed into Egypt, AP reported, with more expected to leave the Strip within the next day.
The crossing is the main gateway to the outside world for Gaza’s 1.7 million residents.
Egypt had kept the border closed to Palestinians leaving the territory since an October 24 attack in the Sinai Peninsula that killed 31 Egyptian soldiers.
Last month, Egypt temporarily opened the border to allow Palestinians stranded outside the territory to return home.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition
by email and never miss our top stories
By signing up, you agree to the
terms
Border closures have been common since the Islamic terrorist group Hamas seized the Strip in 2007.
For the most part, Israel keeps its border crossings with Gaza sealed except for humanitarian cases or transfers of emergency goods.
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
— Gabriella Jacobs, multimedia journalist
Support our work
Support our work
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You're a dedicated reader
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
