| The carrot offsetting the tunnel-destruction stick. |
Based on the directives of President Abdel-Fatah El-Sisi, the crossing will be open in both directions to allow humanitarian cases and students to cross, as well as to "allow the passage of humanitarian assistance to the Gazoo strip."
The Rafah border crossing between Gazoo and the Sinai Peninsula is the only way for 1.8 million Paleostinians, who have been living under Israeli siege since 2006, to enter and exit the strip.
The crossing has been mostly closed by Egyptian authorities since October 2014 on security grounds.
Cairo periodically opens the border for short periods to allow civilians with foreign passports, Paleostinian students, and those with medical needs to travel back and forth.
The crossing was last opened in mid-February for humanitarian cases and students.
It was also opened as an exception for some Paleostinian social and political figures, as well as youth, to enter Egypt to take part in a conference at Ain El-Sokhna Saturday, in Suez governorate.
The two-day conference, which around 170 Paleostinians attended, focused on Egypt and the Paleostinian cause as well as the unification of the Paleostinian factions.
The border opening comes amid signaled improvement between Cairo and the Paleostinian movement Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, which rose to power in Gazoo in 2006, with the group's leader Mahmoud El-Zahar saying Paleostinian and Egyptian officials have reached a border control agreement.
No further details have been released on the deal, which was discussed during the visit of a Hamas senior delegation to Cairo in late January.