RAFAH, Gaza Strip: Hamas and Egyptian authorities yesterday temporarily opened the Rafah crossing for the first time in weeks, allowing some 2,000 Gazans to cross into Egypt or to return to the Gaza Strip. Around 1,300 Gazans, many of them ill, left the blockaded Palestinian territory into Egypt through the crossing — the only one that bypasses Israel — according to a spokesman for the Hamas-controlled crossing, Mohammed Odwan.
Meanwhile, around 500 Gazans who returned from Egypt by bus made the crossing back into the Gaza Strip, said Odwan, who added that Rafah would also be open on Sunday.
Aside from those requiring treatment in Egyptian hospitals, others crossing into Egypt were Egyptians and Palestinians holding Egyptian passports, Odwan said. The Rafah crossing in southern Gaza is the territory’s only border post that is not under the control of Israel, which sealed off the Gaza Strip after Hamas seized power there in June 2007.
Since early morning, as many as 14 buses carrying passengers from both sides of the border had waited to cross the border at Rafah terminal, a spokesman in the Hamas Interior Ministry said. Ihab Al-Ghussin, told reporters that the terminal will be opened today for the students who are studying abroad, and for 400 patients who have transfer permissions for medical treatment in the Egyptian hospitals.
“We thank (Egyptian) President Hosni Mubarak for opening the crossing today, and we hope the opening days will be extended,” said Gaza’s Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, in a statement to the press.
Meanwhile, Palestinian police raided two mosques linked to Hamas in the West Bank, seizing weapons caches and arresting more than 10 people, an official said in Hebron yesterday.
Security forces loyal to President Mahmud Abbas raided the two village mosques overnight, seizing Hamas pamphlets and weapons, Nidal Abu Sneini, the director of intelligence services in Hebron, told reporters. He said more than 10 people had been arrested but would not give the exact number.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad yesterday threatened to unleash “the fires of hell” on Israel, as it staged a military parade in the south of Gaza Strip. “We will unleash the fires of hell if the Zionist enemy continues its crimes,” said the group’s military chief Abu Hamzeh after the parade by around 800 Islamic Jihad members, an AFP journalist reported.
“We’re getting ready for the next round,” he added, saying “the Zionist enemy will have neither peace nor security while it occupies our land.” Abu Hamzeh said his group had “hundreds of rockets” ready to launch at southern Israel.
Khader Habib, a political leader in the group, said Islamic Jihad “will not rest until we have liberated all of Palestine,” referring to the movement’s aim to create a Palestinian state in Israel’s place.
In another development, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad yesterday said that the formation of a new transitional government of national accordance would unify the Palestinian territories.
Fayyad said during a meeting with new Palestinian prosecutors in West Bank city of Ramallah that agreeing on forming an interim government of national accordance to prepare for new elections would be “a realistic introduction to unify the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.”
— With input from Mohammed Mar’i
