Egypt is opening the Rafah border crossing Thursday and Friday in both directions to facilitate the entrance of "humanitarian cases". This comes as discussions took place between the Egyptian and Palestinian presidents in November, in which an agreement on the border crossing was reached, state-owned newspaper Al-Ahram reported. It added that Hamas' spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri had expressed the group's "persistence to reach a deal that would allow the crossing to be opened more frequently". The Palestinian Interior ministry in Gaza criticised Egypt's decision to open the border for one day only in the direction of Gaza, state-owned Al-Ahram reported. The Palestinian Interior Ministry had previously criticised the one-day opening in October, calling on the Egyptian authorities to authorise two-way passage through the border to allow for "thousands of humanitarian cases". The border has been officially closed since 24 October 2014, following attacks at the Qarm Al-Qawadis checkpoint by "State of Sinai", which killed at least 33 military personnel. Since the attacks, the crossing has only been opened in exceptional cases, or to allow for humanitarian cases to pass.
