Egypt to reopen Rafah crossing

Egypt will reopen Rafah border crossing point with the Gaza Strip right after it finalizes military operations against terrorism in Sinai, a senior Palestinian official said on Sunday.
Jamal Shoubaki, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) ambassador in Cairo, told "Voice of Palestine" Radio that the Egyptian side informed the embassy that once operations in Sinai end, the crossing of Rafah will reopen.
"Until now we are in a permanent contact with the Egyptian authorities to ensure an opening of Rafah crossing," said Shoubaki, adding "the problem is that the road which leads to the crossing is under the military operation."
Meanwhile, the PNA ministry of interior in Gaza called on Egypt to speed up the opening of Rafah crossing point which was keeping closed for 12 days following the deadly attack in Sinai that killed around 30 Egyptian soldiers.
"During the past year, the number of days the crossing of Rafah was shut down reached 189 days," said Eyad al-Bozom, the spokesman of the Gaza-based ministry of interior.
He said that the Egyptian authorities "should evaluate the situation and understand how big the tragedy of the Gaza Strip populations due to the continuation of the closure of Rafah crossing point."
The Gaza Strip, with around 2 million people, has three major crossing points, two with Israel and one with Egypt, but the three crossing points were frequently closed due to more than seven years of a blockade imposed on the enclave.