Foreign Ministers of several Arab states met on Thursday and decided to leave the Rafiah crossing between southern Gaza and Egypt closed. However, the FMs decided to send an aid shipment to Gaza via the crossing.
The three main Palestinian Authority factions—Hamas, Fatah and Islamic Jihad—had pressured Arab states to open the crossing. All other Gaza crossings are controlled by Israel. Israel has left the crossings closed for the past two weeks due to daily rocket attacks from Gaza. Humanitarian aid has been allowed through.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum issued an official statement expressing disappointment with the decision not to open Rafiah. Opening Rafiah would end the “siege” on Gaza, Barhoum said.
Egypt has kept the crossing closed since the Hamas takeover of Gaza in 2007. Hamas blew it open in January, allowing hundreds of thousands of Gaza Arabs to enter the northern Sinai Peninsula. Egyptian troops resealed Rafiah several days later with Hamas' cooperation.
While the crossing remains closed, residents of Gaza have managed to bring merchandise to and from the area via a network of tunnels built under the city. The tunnels have been used to smuggle everything from livestock to weapons to brides for Hamas terrorists. Many tunnels are poorly built, and dozens of smugglers have been killed in cave-ins since the beginning of the year.
Thousands to Leave for Mecca
While the Rafiah crossing will remain closed, Egypt has agreed to allow approximately 6,500 Muslim pilgrims from Gaza to pass through the crossing on their way to Mecca. The pilgrims will be allowed to leave via Rafiah over the weekend.
Egypt has allowed small groups of Gaza Muslims to leave for Mecca on several occasions. Israeli defense officials have warned that terrorists often pretend to be Mecca pilgrims in order to leave Gaza for terrorist training in Syria and Iran.
Crossings Closed Thursday
Defense Minister Ehud Barak kept Israeli-controlled crossings closed on Thursday following two early-morning rocket attacks on the city of Sderot. The rockets landed in open areas and did not cause injury.
Barak had planned to allow 45 trucks to enter Gaza carrying food, animal feed and chlorine for water purification. Defense officials have repeatedly promised to allow trucks into Gaza as soon as 24 hours pass without a rocket attack.