Egypt reopened the Rafah-Gaza border crossing on Monday, for the fourth time since a deadly attack against its security forces in October, reported Ahram Online.
Egyptian authorities are expected to keep the crossing between Gaza and Sinai open through Tuesday to allow people stranded on both sides to pass, and to allow through aid for the people of Gaza.
Gazans who travel through Rafah are mostly students heading to universities in Egypt or elsewhere, and people in need of medical treatment.
Since former president Mohamed Morsi’s ouster in 2013, Egyptian authorities have kept the crossing closed most of the time, citing security concerns in the north of the Sinai peninsula where Islamist terrorists have carried out numerous attacks.
Egypt completely shut the Rafah crossing after a guerrilla attack in northern Sinai in October 2014 killed 30 soldiers, and has only opened it three times since then.
The Egyptian Army has also created a wide buffer zone along the border with Gaza, aimed at preventing infiltration.
Egypt has accused Hamas, which rules Gaza, of being involved in the terrorist activities in the Sinai Peninsula.
Hamas – a Terror Group
Ten days ago, an Egyptian court declared Hamas a terrorist group, one month after a similar ruling against its armed wing, the Ezzedin al-Kassam Brigades.
Another court sentenced Egypt’s top Muslim Brotherhood leaders to life in prison, over a violent clash during an attack on the group’s Cairo headquarters in June 2013.
The decision by the Court of Urgent Matters declaring Hamas a “terrorist organization” follows deterioration of the relationship between the Egyptian government and Hamas after the Egyptian Army began sealing off remaining tunnels between Gaza and the northern Sinai, and demolishing structures along the border.
Presiding Judge Mohamed el Sayed said that Hamas was actively working to harm Egyptian security. “It has been proven without any doubt,” he said, “that the movement has committed acts of sabotage, assassinations, and the killings of innocent civilians and members of the armed forces and police in Egypt.”
