Rafah Border Crossing Open for 1 day

1 April 2008

Egyptian authorities opened Rafah terminal on Egypt-Gaza border for a single day on Tuesday to let around 350 Egyptians stuck in Gaza Strip for the past two months to return home, a security official said.

According to the official, the stranded Egyptians crossed into Gaza when Palestine Royal Guards blew up parts of the border wall in January letting hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to cross into Egypt to shop food and commodities before the barrier was resealed 12 days later.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

Palestine legal government officials described the movement of Egyptians through the crossing as "smooth" and that family members with Palestinian papers and residency in Egypt stayed behind.

"We hope the Egyptian efforts yield positive results," said Taher Nunu, a Palestine legal government spokesman.

In addition to the Egyptians, Palestinian trucks and vehicles were allowed to return to Gaza, the Egyptian official said. The vehicles had been originally brought by Palestinian merchants to carry commodities during border breach but then were not allowed to return when the border was reclosed.