Palestinians call for Egypt to permanently open Rafah crossing

Dozens of Palestinians rallied on Tuesday at the Palestinian side of Rafah crossing point bordering with Egypt to call for its permanent opening.

The demonstrators waved both Palestinian and Egyptian flags and held banners saying "We are the stranded people in the Gaza Strip (and) call Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi to reopen the crossing for us."

The demonstrators included students who need to travel to resume their higher education, patients who need medical treatment and businessmen who need to travel for trade.

A spokesman of the stranded people, told a news conference held outside a tent at the Palestinian side of the crossing point "We all came here to send a message to Egypt."

"Our message is that students, patients and people who hold dual citizenships need to travel through the crossing. We are demanding the Egyptian authorities to bear this in consideration and reopen the crossing," he said.

Gaza-based rights groups said that since the beginning of this year, Egypt has partially reopened the crossing of Rafah only for five separate days and kept it closed for several months.

Egypt shut down Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip right after the Hamas movement seized control of the coastal enclave in the summer of 2007, only to reopen the crossing partially for several days.

Egypt refused to permanently reopen Rafah crossing point while it is under the full control of Hamas, which is an extension to the Muslim brothers in Egypt.

Egypt announced that it would only reopen it round the clock when the Palestinian National Authority controls the Gaza Strip and all other crossing points. Endit