Egypt opens Gaza border crossing for three days

RAFAH, GAZA - APRIL 12: Palestinians wait at Rafah border crossing to cross into Egypt in Rafah town, southern Gaza Strip on April 12, 2018 after Egyptian authorities temporarily reopened the border crossing for three days. (00:01:30) Interview with Palestinian Hamed Isleyih at Rafah Crossing on Thursday. gyptian authorities on Thursday opened the Rafah border crossing with the blockaded Gaza Strip for a three-day period. On Wednesday, Cairo announced that the terminal would remain open until Saturday to allow Palestinians to cross the border in both directions. According to an Anadolu Agency correspondent based in Gaza, buses loaded with passengers began inching towards the border crossing on Thursday morning. Blockaded by Israel -- by air, land and sea -- since 2007, the Gaza Strip has seven border crossings linking it to the outside world. Six of these are controlled by Israel, while the seventh -- at Rafah -- is controlled by Egypt, which keeps it tightly sealed for the most part since the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi in a 2013 military coup. Israel sealed four of its commercial crossings with Gaza in June 2007 after Palestinian resistance movement Hamas wrested control of the strip from the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority. (Footage by Montaser El Sawaf/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)