Egypt opens Rafah crossing for 3 days
Cairo orders its side of Rafah border be open for three days, to allows some 5,000 Palestinian with proper permits to cross over to Egypt
Egypt has briefly opened Rafah border terminal Saturday, and 5,000 Gazans have signed up to leave over three days. Egypt and Israel sealed Gaza's borders two years ago, after the Islamic militant Hamas seized control of the territory.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who was present at the opening, told reporters he was hopeful for a peace agreement between the Palestinian factions but that there was still a long way to go.
"There are certain issues with seriousness that are still at the front, and I hope a deal is signed by July 7," he was quoted by the Palestinian Maan news agency as saying.
Haniyeh said the opening of Rafah crossing was "always on the Palestinian negotiation table", and that it was being discussed with Egypt.
"We still believe the closing of the crossing is a national and pan-Arabic mistake, because the suffering of Gaza's residents is great and cannot be expressed in words," he added.
"We can operate the crossing on the basis of political cooperation and Egyptian-Palestinian cooperation, with the presence of Europeans, Egypt, the Palestinian presidency, and the Palestinian government.
The Rafah crossing has been closed almost continuously since the June 2006 kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, but Egypt opens the crossing periodically and Israel allows in food and humanitarian aid, but banns supplies needed to repair infrastructural damage.
On Friday, the international community called for lifting the Gaza blockade.
The reopening is especially intended to "allow patients, students and visa holders to leave the area."
AFP contributed to this report
