An Egyptian court has ruled that Egypt must allow trucks carrying humanitarian aid and supplies to enter Gaza via the Rafiah crossing. The crossing is located on the northern edge of the Sinai Peninsula, and is the only crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
Until now, the Egyptian military has blocked vehicles wishing to enter Gaza. The court ruled that the military's actions had violated Egyptian law and contradicted official Egyptian policy.
Most humanitarian aid has entered Gaza via Israeli crossings since Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007. Egypt has opened the Rafiah crossing intermittently to allow students, Muslim pilgrims to Mecca, the ill and those with foreign citizenship to enter Egypt. The crossing was most recently open from November 6-8.
The question of humanitarian aid was particularly pressing this week, as Gaza crossings were closed following dozens of rocket attacks on western Negev communities. Israeli defense officials planned to open the crossings on Thursday despite the attacks in order to allow fuel and other supplies to enter Gaza; however, the crossings remained closed following intelligence warning of a planned terrorist attack on one crossing. Gaza terrorist groups have often forced closures by targeting Israeli crossings.
Egyptian soldiers continue to prevent weapons smuggling along the Gaza-Egypt border, Egyptian officials say. On Sunday, soldiers stopped a truck and discovered that it was carrying half a ton of explosive material. The three men in the truck were arrested, and admitted that they had planned to bring the explosives to Gaza.
A week earlier, Egyptian forces found a ton of explosive material hidden in the Sinai desert. The explosives were apparently going to be smuggled into Gaza.
Despite the security efforts, IDF officials say the Egyptian army's operations are ineffective. Weapons smuggling to Gaza continues on a large scale, they say, largely through a network of tunnels under the border city of Rafiah.