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Egypt temporarily reopens Rafah border crossing with Gaza

Xinhua, October 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

Egypt on Saturday temporarily reopened Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip, the coastal enclave that Islamic Hamas movement rules, an official statement said.

The Hamas-run corporation for crossings and borders said in press statement that the crossing will be partially reopened for three days, then will be closed for two days and then will be reopened for another four days.

"Several buses full of passengers left the Palestinian side of the crossing on the borders between southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, and crossed the borders to the Egyptian side of the crossing," said the statement.

The crossing of Rafah was reopened to allow stranded Palestinians to travel in both directions, mainly patients, students, businessmen and Palestinians holding dual nationalities.

Early on Saturday morning, thousands of people gathered outside the crossing waiting to get on the busses and cross to the Egyptian side. Hamas security forces were deployed outside the crossing to ensure security.

Last time Egypt reopened the crossing of Rafah in both directions was on Sept. 3 for three days.

Reopening the crossing had recently witnesses progress since last April, after Hamas authorities in Gaza promised to ensure the security of the borderline area between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.

Hamas has been ruling the coastal enclave since the militias of the group violently seized control of it in the summer of 2007, and routed the security forces of Palestinian President.

However, tension between Hamas and Egypt worsened after Hamas backed the ousted president of Egypt Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Endit