Rafah crossing closed due to security reasons after attacks in Sinai: Officials
Iran Press TV
Fri Jul 5, 2013 12:12PM GMT
Rafah border crossing has been closed due to security reasons following deadly attacks on Egyptian soldiers in Sinai Peninsula, a Hamas official says.
“The Egyptian side informed us of shutting down Rafah crossing until further notice because of the unstable security situation in the peninsula of Sinai,” Maher Abu Sabha said in a statement on Friday.
It came after armed men fired rocket-propelled grenades at army stations guarding El Arish International Airport and six other police stations including a security checkpoint near the military intelligence station in the border town of Rafah on the same day, killing at least one Egyptian soldier and wounding two others.
Some 800 Palestinian people normally leave for Egypt and beyond through the Rafah crossing, the only passageway leading to the rest of the world for most Gazans.
Israel imposed an all-out land, aerial, and naval blockade of the Gaza in June 2007 after the democratically-elected Palestinian resistance movement Hamas took over the administration of the territory.
The Rafah crossing is the Palestinian territory's only crossing outside Israeli control.
Earlier in the day, Egyptian military officials declared a state of emergency in South Sinai Peninsula and Suez region saying in a statement that “state of readiness was raised to its maximum level” in the two provinces.
On July 4, the chief justice of Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court, Adli Mansour, was sworn in as interim president of Egypt.
Egypt’s ousted president Mohamed Morsi is reportedly being held “preventively” by the military. An army official said he might face formal charges over accusations made by his opponents.
MAM/KA
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