Egypt closes Rafah border for duration of Eid holiday

Egyptian authorities closed the Rafah border crossing with Gaza for the duration of the Eid al-Adha holiday.

The Palestinian enclave’s only border not controlled by Israel will remain closed to all traffic for the five days of Eid, from October 3 to 7, isolating 1.8 million residents of the Gaza Strip for the duration of the holiday.

The state-owned Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported that the border would be re-opened on October 8. While no explanation was provided for the closure, MENA alluded to Egypt’s political tensions with Hamas, which it said "maintains strong ties with the Muslim Brotherhood.”

The independently owned Al-Badeel news website reported that the last crossing of the border was on Thursday, when an aid convoy from Greece — consisting of 350 tons of food and 30 tons of medical supplies — was allowed in.

Some 135 individuals were also allowed into the Gaza Strip from the Egyptian border on Thursday, Al-Badeel added.

Along with Israel, Egypt has maintained restricted borders with Gaza since Hamas took control of the densely populated strip in 2007.

Egypt’s border with Gaza has become even more tightly controlled since the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi on July 3, 2013.

The Armed Forces have destroyed the vast majority of the smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Egypt, whilst simultaneously keeping the Rafah border crossing closed for most of the year.

While pilgrims to Mecca, medical patients, students, and dual nationals are allowed to trickle through the Rafah border when it is officially open, the majority of Gazans are not allowed to travel into Egypt or beyond.

Following the seven-week armed conflict (from July 8 until August 26) between Gazan resistance fighters and Israel, which left over 2,100 Palestinians dead and hundreds of thousands homeless, Egypt agreed to ease border restrictions with Gaza, and to support reconstruction efforts.

An international donors conference is scheduled to be held in Cairo on October 12.

On September 9, the United Nations and Palestinian authorities called for at least $US550 million worth of aid for Gaza’s displaced residents, and assistance in reconstruction efforts for the enclave.