After a statement was issued by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry confirming that the crossing will not be closed to aid to the Gaza Strip, questions arose about the actual reality of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, and at the same time pointed to the irregularity of its operation due to Israel's bombing of it from the Palestinian side .

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edited by |Jus Mcmahon

 

Politic section -  CJ journalist

 

October,12,2023 - Cairo 

 

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To clarify the situation at the crossing, Brigadier General Khaled Okasha, a member of the Supreme Council for combating terrorism in Egypt, said that "the crossing is already open from the Egyptian side and has not been closed, but in practice it is not working, that is, no assistance is being introduced from it at the moment".

"In order for the crossing to actually work, the presence of personnel and logistics from the Egyptian and Palestinian sides is necessary, but it is currently destroyed by the Palestinian side due to the Israeli bombardment of it,"Okasha explained.

He pointed out that "at the same time, the Palestinian employees left the crossing and fled, as a result of the Israeli bombardment of it, and then the result is the suspension of the work of the crossing".

"There is pressure on Israel not to bomb the crossing from the Palestinian side, for the possibility of restoring its operation and the introduction of aid, but according to the information available to us, no official response has arrived from Israel so far,"Okasha said.

On Monday and Tuesday, Israeli aircraft bombed the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, as part of the war that broke out between Israel and the Hamas movement.

According to Egyptian media, the strikes destroyed the entrance to the crossing.

On Thursday, Egypt announced that the Rafah crossing is open and has not been closed, but "the destruction of its facilities as a result of Israeli shelling prevents its normal operation".

A statement issued by the Egyptian foreign ministry said: "Egypt has confirmed that the Rafah crossing is open for business and has not been closed at any stage since the beginning of the current crisis, contrary to the inaccurate information being circulated".

However, the statement added that"the fact that its basic facilities on the Palestinian side have been destroyed as a result of repeated Israeli shelling prevents its normal functioning".

 

 

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