The Palestinian interior ministry in the Gaza Strip allowed as of March 31 all foreign UN and Red Cross employees and officials to freely enter and leave the Strip through the Beit Hanoun (Erez) border crossing.
In a press release spokesman for the ministry Iyad al-Bazem said that the ministry would use the same mechanism it had already announced regarding the travel of other passengers through the crossing.
On his Facebook page Bazem explained that if there were passengers with humanitarian cases and in urgent need for travel but not meeting the conditions the competent authorities would study their applications and then decide whether to approve them or not.
He described the measures taken at the Beit Hanoun crossing as “temporary and a security necessity.”
One week ago senior commander of al-Qassam Brigades Mazen al-Fuqaha was assassinated outside his home in Gaza.
Hamas and its armed wing have accused the Israeli occupation state and its collaborators of committing the crime.
Consequently the interior ministry announced the closure of all border crossings as part of security measures intended to capture the perpetrators.
