200 Palestinians Stranded in Egypt Return Home

A Palestinian boy stands on the wall while Egyptian police watch people as they cross to Egypt through the borderl between Egypt and Rafah 28 January 2008 in Rafah, the southern Gaza Strip. Egyptian security forces began putting up fences to plug the breaches along the border.

3 April 2008

Egypt temporarily opened a border crossing with the Gaza Strip on Thursday to allow around 200 Palestinians stranded in Egypt to return home, Egyptian security sources said.

A hole was blown into the border in January, allowing Palestinians to cross into Egypt to seek relief from an Israeli blockade that occurred towards the end of the war.

The border has since been resealed, stranding hundreds of Palestinians inside Egypt.

Apparently, many Palestinians, who returned home through the Rafah crossing, had been living with relatives in towns on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has said Egypt was working to reopen the Rafah crossing on a more regular basis.