Hamas urges Egypt to open Rafah border with Gaza

The Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, has called on Egypt to open the Rafah border crossing with the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip to allow Palestinians with health problems to get treatment abroad.

In a press release published on Saturday, Iyad al-Bozum, spokesman for the Hamas Interior Ministry, said approximately 20,000 people with “humanitarian cases” in Gaza are waiting for the reopening of Rafah.

Bozum further warned that the closure of the border crossing by Egyptian authorities threatens the lives of those in need of urgent surgeries or suffering heart complications or cancer.

“We call on the Egyptian authorities to assess the difficult humanitarian conditions in Gaza and open the Rafah crossing urgently to save what can be saved,” he said.

Since 2007, the Tel Aviv regime maintains its land, air and sea blockade on more than 1.8 million people living in Gaza, denying them the most basic items like food, medicine and fuel.