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| Africa North | |
| Hamas says Egypt sealed border after rare 3-day opening | |
| 2016-02-17 | |
| [IsraelTimes] 2,439 people leave Gazoo and 1,122 enter; Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, says 2015 was worst year for Rafah crossing in recent years Nearly 2,500 people left Gazoo during a three-day humanitarian opening of the border with Egypt, a rare opportunity for Gazooks to leave the blockaded enclave, authorities in the Paleostinian territory said Tuesday. The Hamas-run interior ministry in Gazoo said 2,439 people left the territory over the three days, while 1,122 entered and 334 were turned back by Egyptian authorities. The border was closed again on Tuesday, a ministry statement said, after "Egyptian authorities informed us of the shutting down of the Rafah crossing." Egypt originally opened the border for humanitarian cases for two days from Saturday but that was extended for an extra day on Monday. Before Saturday, the crossing had been closed for 70 days, the ministry said. The United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... has registered 30,000 Paleostinians as "humanitarian cases" seeking to leave Gazoo. At the crossing, long lines of Gazooks queued, many carrying heavy suitcases. Sarah Abu Karesh, a woman waiting at the crossing on Saturday, told AFP she had been trying to leave the territory for months. "I only came here for a week's holiday and I've been stuck here for 18 months," she said.
The Hamas interior ministry said 2015 was "the worst year for Rafah in recent years" with the border crossing open for just 21 days in total. The border was largely open during the rule of Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, whose Moslem Brüderbund movement has close ties with the fellow Islamists of Hamas. But since Morsi's overthrow in 2013, President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi has closed the crossing, with only occasional humanitarian openings. In 2012, nearly 35,000 travelers used the Rafah crossing each month, according to the UN. In 2015, the monthly average fell to less than 2,400. Historically many young Gazooks studied in Egypt, while many Paleostinians visited their families on the other side of the border. | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #1 Terror attack in Sinai in 5..4..3 |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2016-02-17 06:46 |