The Palestinian embassy in Cairo announced that the Egyptian authorities have decided to open Rafah crossing for three days starting Thursday in both directions.

The embassy said that they were informed by Egyptian authorities of the decision to open Rafah crossing to allow the movement of Palestinians in and out of the besieged Gaza Strip.

While the Egyptian border has remained the main lifeline for Gazans to the outside world Egyptian authorities have slowly sealed off movement through the border.

The year of 2017 was the worst for Rafah crossing as it was opened for only 35 days with nearly 35000 humanitarian cases registered with the Ministry of Interior waiting to be allowed to travel.

Rafah crossing and the other crossings in Gaza had been handed over to the Palestinian Authority government following the latest reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas under the auspices of the Egyptian intelligence.

The Palestinian embassy in Cairo announced that the Egyptian authorities have decided to open Rafah crossing for three days starting Wednesday in both directions.

Palestine’s ambassador to Egypt and permanent representative at the Arab League Diab al-Louh expressed his sincere thanks to president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and the Egyptian security services for their efforts to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Media spokesman of Rafah crossing Mu’taz Dalloul said in an exclusive statement to the PIC that the Egyptian authorities have informed them that the crossing will be opened at 12 p.m. on Wednesday until Friday denying the news that the opening will be limited to the return of the stranded.

This is the first time that Rafah crossing has been opened since the beginning of 2018. The last time the crossing was opened was on 20th December 2017.

The year of 2017 was the worst for Rafah crossing as it was opened for only 35 days only with nearly 35000 humanitarian cases registered with the Ministry of Interior waiting to be allowed to travel.

Rafah crossing and the other crossings in Gaza had been handed over to the Palestinian Authority government following the latest reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas under the auspices of the Egyptian intelligence.

The interior ministry’s crossing and border authority in Gaza announced on Saturday the opening of Rafah border crossing for three days.

In a brief statement the authority in Gaza said the Egyptian authorities are going to open Rafah crossing in both directions from Monday to Wednesday.

The lists of passengers who are going to travel during the three days will be published on the website of the interior ministry according to the ministry’s lists of humanitarian cases and and the holders of the Egyptian passport in addition to other names based on coordination.

Rafah crossing is the only border pathway that connects the Gazan people to the outside world through Egypt. It is jointly managed by Egyptian and Palestinian authorities. The border crossing has been closed for 57 days and opened for 7 days only since the beginning of the year.

The Egyptian authorities decided to open the Rafah border crossing on Saturday for the travel of passengers for three days.

The interior ministry’s crossing and border authority in Gaza said on Thursday that it was officially informed of Egypt’s intention to open the crossing in both directions from Saturday to Monday.

Some lists of passengers were published on the website of the interior ministry and others will be available later according to the border authority.

About 30000 passengers have already registered for travel through the crossing.

This will be the second time the Egyptian authorities has opened the Rafah crossing since the beginning of the current year. Two weeks ago they opened the crossing for three days and extended it for a fourth day.