Rafah crossing re-opens after Egypt soldiers released
More than 7,000 Palestinians have been stranded at the crossing since its shutdown on Friday
Cairo: Egyptian soldiers re-opened a major border crossing near the Gaza Strip on Wednesday five days after they sealed it off to protest the abduction of seven colleagues, according to witnesses.
“On hearing that the seven soldiers were released, the soldiers who were closing the Rafah crossing and those working at the crossing erupted in joy and chanted Allah Akbar [God is the greatest],” one witness told Gulf News.
“The soldiers then opened the gates of the crossing for the Palestinians on both sides to move,” he added.
More than 7,000 Palestinians have been stranded on both sides of the crossing since its shutdown on Friday. The Rafah crossing is the only passage for the Israeli-besieged Gaza Strip to the outside world.
The seven soldiers were released early on Wednesday in Sinai due to what an army spokesman called “efforts by the military intelligence [service]” and local tribal chiefs in the desert peninsula. The freed soldiers were carried by helicopter from Sinai to a military airport in eastern Cairo where they were welcomed by President Mohammad Mursi and Defence Minister Abdul Fattah Al Sissi.
