"The terminal will remain open in both directions for three consecutive days,” Hisham Odwan, Rafah crossing director on the Palestinian side, told Anadolu Agency. According to the Palestinian official, students, patients and foreign residency holders will be allowed to cross the terminal during the three-day period.
An Anadolu Agency’s correspondent at the crossing said hundreds of travelers have gathered on the Palestinian side of the border since early morning. According to Gaza’s border crossing authority, roughly 16,000 people in Gaza have registered and are now on the waiting list to leave the strip. On Friday, senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh arrived in Gaza Strip via Rafah crossing after around five months he spent in Qatar.
Speaking to media upon his arrival, Haniyeh described recent talks with Egyptian officials in Cairo as “successful” and “fruitful”. Since the overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi in a 2013 military coup, Egypt has kept the border with Gaza mostly sealed. The long periods of closure at the crossing -- which represents Gaza's only point of access to the outside world not under Israeli control -- have brought the coastal enclave’s nearly 2 million inhabitants to the verge of humanitarian catastrophe.