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 Gaza, a small impoverished coastal enclave, is under blockade by
neighboring Israel and Egypt has kept its Rafah crossing largely
shut since Cairo's Islamist president was toppled by the army in
2013.
Two weeks ago, Egypt reopened Rafah for three days but only in one
direction -- for Palestinians stranded outside Gaza to return home.
But Saturday's move, allowing travel in both directions, might
signal a cautious improvement in relations between Cairo and Hamas
after two years of high tension.
Local residents said an initial bus with passengers had crossed into
Egypt and a source at Cairo international airport said Palestinians
were flying in to set out overland for Gaza.
Border officials said the new opening would last for three days and
some Palestinian sources said it could be extended, although there
was no immediate Egyptian confirmation.
Egypt has occasionally opened Rafah to allow passengers with foreign
passports as well as students and hospital patients to travel.
Israel, which waged war with Hamas in July and August last year,
allows travel between it and Gaza largely only on humanitarian
grounds such as relief aid and medical treatment.
Cairo has accused Hamas, which is close to the Muslim Brotherhood,
of helping militants in Egypt's Sinai desert, which borders on Gaza,
attack its security forces. Hamas denies this.
But a decision by an Egyptian court earlier this month to cancel a
previous ruling labeling Hamas a terrorist group was praised by
Palestinian Islamists and raised speculation that relations between
Egypt and Gaza may improve.
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"The opening ... for three days is a positive indicator, it comes
after another good decision taken by the court. We hope Egypt opens
the crossing permanently and can regain its role in Gaza and
Palestine," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum told Reuters.
Gaza officials said 15,000 people had registered to travel via
Rafah, including at least 3,000 patients, and hundreds of students
who study in Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world.
Ahmed Abu Taeima, 34, a Palestinian accountant who lives in Saudi
Arabia, said he had waited for four months to be able to return from
Gaza to the kingdom and was lucky he could get back before his Saudi
residency permit expires in two weeks' time.
"I was fearing I could lose my residency and my work. Thank God the
crossing has opened and I can leave," he told Reuters at the Rafah
passport hall.
(Additional reporting by Yousri Mohamed in Ismailia; Writing by
Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by Ori Lewis and Mark Heinrich)
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