The head of authorities in charge of the crossing Salameh Barakah told reporters the crossing point would be open to patients, residents, foreign passport holders and students. On Tuesday, Egypt decided to open the Rafah border crossing after the Israeli Navy attacked the Freedom Flotilla aid convoy in international waters near Gaza.
According to reports, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ordered the opening of the crossing to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. The border point will remain open until further notice.
After the Egyptian declaration, the Hamas interior ministry in Gaza confirmed that the crossing would be open from 9 a.m. local time till 7 p.m. daily. It added that all passengers wishing to travel should go directly to the crossing.
Arab News learnt that since the opening of the crossing on Wednesday morning until noon, 10 buses had traveled to the Palestinian side of the border, waiting to cross into the Egyptian side.
"It’s a very great decision taken by President Hosni Mubarak to open the border for us so we are able to travel freely, but we also want him to permanently open this sole crossing point," passenger Ahamd Hekamt told Arab News.
An official at the Rafah crossing point told reporters that the priority on Wednesday would be given to passengers already registered on the interior ministry travel list.
The Rafah border authority will make registration easy for any new passenger who wants to travel, he added. However, scores of Palestinians flocked to the border crossing in an attempt to make their way to Egypt.
Since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, the Israeli government imposed a crippling blockade on the territory, and closed all of its borders into Gaza, including the Rafah crossing point.
Egypt sporadically opened the terminal for humanitarian cases and for aid to cross into Gaza.
