EL-ARISH, Egypt - More than half of the estimated 6,000 Palestinians stranded in Egypt have made it back to Gaza since Israel started allowing them passage a week ago, an Egyptian security source told AFP. On Sunday, 950 Palestinians reached the Al Oja (Nizana) cargo crossing on the Egypt-Israel border, south of the divided town of Rafah, the official said, bringing to around 3,350 the number of Palestinians to have crossed.Israel began allowing the Palestinians to return home on July 29, after they had been stranded for more than six weeks since the Gaza Strip was taken over on June 15 by the Islamist Hamas movement. The Palestinians were mostly trapped in and around the Egyptian town of El-Arish in north Sinai following the closing of the nearby Rafah terminal, GazaÂ’s only door to the outside world bypassing Israel.
However, the fate of a number of stranded Hamas supporters remains uncertain as they would be arrested by Israel if they used the Al Oja crossing.
| That's a shame, huh? |
Hamas, which does not recognise Israel, has objected to the Jewish state being able to control who is allowed to travel from Egypt into Gaza.
| Of course they object. That's why you arrest them when you find them. |