Egypt's president announces Rafah crossing open for Ramadan

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi. Photo / AP

Egypt has announced the opening of the Rafah border crossing with Gaza for the entire Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the longest length of time since 2013, President Abdel-fattah al-Sisi announced on Twitter.

Sisi wrote on his official Twitter account that the opening would "alleviate the burdens of the brothers in the Gaza Strip".

The announcement yesterday comes just days after Israeli forces killed 60 Palestinians - 59 of them shot — and injured more than 2700 during mass protests along the Gaza border.

The high number of wounded has overwhelmed the Gaza health system.

The crossing has been open since Saturday so Sisi's announcement is technically an extension of the opening and Egyptian authorities said 510 people crossed on Thursday, the majority coming from Gaza into Egypt. Yesterday, 541 people crossed from Egypt into Gaza along with dozens of trucks carrying cement, steel, power engines and medical and food aid from the Red Crescent, the officials said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media.

In 2007, Hamas wrested control of Gaza by force, provoking the Israeli-Egyptian blockade that severely restricted the movement of most of Gaza's 2 million inhabitants.

The Rafah crossing is Gaza's main gate to the outside world but has only had sporadic openings since the 2013 ouster of Egypt's elected Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, a high-ranking member of Hamas' parent group, the Muslim Brotherhood.

Meanwhile, United Nations human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said yesterday that Israel has systematically deprived Palestinians of their human rights, with the residents of Gaza "caged in a toxic slum from birth to death".

Opening a special session of the UN Human Rights Council that could set up a commission of inquiry into recent violence, Zeid said: "Nobody has been made safer by the horrific events of the past week. End the occupation, and the violence and insecurity will largely disappear."

- AP