2023-10-10 07:16:29
On Tuesday, the Israeli army issued an amendment to a statement in which a military spokesman advised Palestinians fleeing air strikes on the Gaza Strip to head to Egypt. The army said in the amended statement that the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt is currently closed, according to Archyde.com.
The chief military spokesman for the Israeli army, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht, had told foreign journalists, “I know that the Rafah crossing (on the border between Gaza and Egypt) is still open… and I advise anyone who can go out to do so.”
But his office later issued a statement saying, “Clarification: The Rafah crossing was open yesterday, but is now closed.”
On Monday evening, Egyptian security sources and a witness said that operations in Rafah were disrupted due to what they described as a strike on the side of the crossing in Gaza.
In Egypt, local state-owned channels reported from high-level Egyptian sources warning once morest pushing the Palestinians towards the Egyptian border, and some parties feeding calls for mass exodus, according to what Al-Hurra’s correspondent reported.
The sources stressed the seriousness of the calls for displacement, and that they would empty the Gaza Strip of its population and “liquidate the Palestinian cause itself,” in addition to the fact that Egyptian sovereignty “is not permissible.”
These sources also held the Israeli authorities responsible for the need to find humanitarian corridors to help the citizens of Gaza, stressing “the necessity of responding to the voice of reason and stopping military operations immediately.”
Rafah is the only crossing between Egypt and Gaza, and the blockade imposed by Israel, with security support from Egypt, has long imposed severe restrictions on the movement of goods and people.
The crossing was operating partially to bring humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, which Israel announced was cutting off electricity and food supplies.
The North Sinai Border Governorate is preparing for any crises that may occur due to the current events in the Gaza Strip, especially the directorates of health, supply, education, solidarity, and housing, according to Al Hurra’s correspondent.
Vacations and rest periods for doctors, members of the nursing staff, and workers in the medical and health sectors, ambulances, and vital equipment in the governorate have been suspended.
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