Live Update 
From the Liveblog of
Monday, January 7, 2019
From the Liveblog of
Monday, January 7, 2019
Hamas staff reclaim Egypt-Gaza border as PA withdraws
Hamas employees retake control of the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt after the Palestinian Authority withdrew its own staff.
The PA’s civil affairs authority had on Sunday accused Hamas of “summoning, arresting and abusing our employees,” leading it to conclude that their presence at the Rafah border was futile, according to official Palestinian news agency WAFA.
Palestinians wait to cross into Egypt through the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip, on August 16, 2017. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
An AFP journalist saw Hamas officials at the border crossing’s main gate and inside accompanying offices in southern Gaza on Monday afternoon.
A Hamas border official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the terror group that rules the Strip had taken control “to avoid a vacuum.”
— with AFP
