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Egypt to open Gaza border crossing twice monthly — report
[IsraelTimes] President Sissi said to order measure to ’lessen the suffering of Paleostinian people’ in the Strip.The Egyptian government plans to open the Rafah border crossing with Gazoo twice a month, after years of traffic only being allowed through the border point intermittently, according to a report Monday. Quoting top Egyptian security officials, the Ma’an Paleostinian wire service said that the order had come directly from Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to "lessen the suffering of Paleostinian people in the Gazoo Strip." Egypt has quietly cooperated with Israel in blockading the coastal enclave since the Islamist terror group Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", came to power in elections in 2006, but occasionally opens the Rafah crossing for three days at a time. Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent arms smuggling. The changes, while still in their infancy, mark a significant departure from what has been a tough Egyptian crackdown since the military ousted then-president Mohammed Morsi, in 2013. Hamas, which rules the Gazoo Strip and is an offshoot of Morsi’s Moslem Brüderbund, enjoyed close relations with him and quickly fell into disfavor with the new government. In recent months, Cairo has increased the number of people allowed to exit through the Rafah border crossing, Gazoo’s main gateway to the outside world. Since January, the crossing has opened in both directions twice. Egypt has also begun to allow Gazoo to import commercial goods through Rafah for the first time since 2013 and sent public signals that it is interested in improving relations. Posted by: trailing wife 2017-03-08 |
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