Hundreds of Gazans call on Egypt to reopen Rafah crossing

Hundreds of Palestinians on Friday called on Egypt to reopen the Rafah border crossing point with the Gaza Strip which had been closed since Oct. 25, 2014.

Their call on the Egyptian authorities to reopen Rafah crossing was made during the Friday prayers in an opened field in front of the crossing's gate.

Mohamed Ashour, the imam who led the prayers, said the Gaza Strip "is an essential need for the Arab nations to stand its populations side."

"There are thousands of students and patients who need to travel to Egypt and other countries for education and medical treatment," Ashour said, calling on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to bear his responsibility toward Gaza.

Ahmed Qeshta, one of the prayers, expressed to Xinhua his hope that Egypt would soon reopen Rafah border crossing for the Gaza Strip people. "This crossing is the only exit for us to the outside world."

"In fact, we live in a big prison after Israel imposed a tight blockade on the Gaza Strip and after Egypt kept the crossing of Rafah closed," Qeshta said, adding that "the responsible parties have to isolate politics from human's needs."

Since the deadly attack in Sinai on Oct. 25, which killed 30 Egyptian soldiers, Egypt opened the crossing temporarily twice; each was for two days only to enable stranded Palestinians in Egypt to return to Gaza. Endit