Egypt reopens Rafah crossing after 8-day closure

Egyptian authorities reopened Rafah crossing with the Gaza Strip on Saturday following an eight-day closure. "Egyptian authorities told us that the Rafah crossing will remain open until Monday," the department of borders said in a statement, a copy of which was obtained by Anadolu Agency. On Wednesday, the Gaza-based Hamas government said that an Egyptian intelligence official had told Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh that Egypt will open the Rafah border crossing next week for three days. The Palestinian Embassy in Cairo had earlier said that the terminal will be open for three days to allow the crossing of humanitarian cases. Rafah crossing represents Gaza's only gateway to the outside world, as all other points into or out of the coastal enclave remain blocked by Israel. The Gaza Strip – home to some 1.7 million inhabitants – has suffered under a crippling Israeli blockade since 2007, forcing residents to dig underground tunnels along the borders with Egypt through which to bring badly needed food, medicine and fuel into the territory. Since the Egyptian army's July 3 ouster of elected President Mohamed Morsi, however, the Egyptian military has cracked down hard on the Gaza tunnels, bringing smuggling activity to a relative standstill.