HATFIELD, United Kingdom (Voice Naija) –The Government of Egypt has closed its border crossings with the Gaza Strip and Israel in the Sinai Peninsula, including two that serve as gateways for travellers in the towns of Rafah and Taba, Egyptian security officials said on Tuesday.
Officials said authorities have also stepped up patrols along Egypt’s borders with Gaza to prevent any infiltrations by militants into Israel, according to The Nationals.
Troops deployed in the area have been placed on high alert and given permission to use deadly force against suspicious movements by anyone who approaches.
The closures of the crossings come as Israeli warplanes and artillery pummel Gaza in retaliation for Saturday’s bloody incursion into southern Israel by militants from Gaza.
The attack left hundreds dead from both sides in what has been recognised as Israel’s bloodiest day since Egyptian and Syrian forces launched a surprise attack against the Israeli army 50 years ago.
While Rafah is chiefly used by Palestinians from Gaza, the Taba crossing on the northern tip of the Red Sea’s Gulf of Aqaba is mostly used by Israeli tourists who visit the sandy beaches and pristine blue waters of resorts in southern Sinai, including Dahab and Sharm El Sheikh.
The other two crossings are the commercial border post of Karam Abu Salem, which lies where Gaza, Egypt and Israel meet, and Al Ouga, on the Egyptian-Israeli border.
Egyptian officials said the Rafah crossing was closed late on Monday night after nearby “explosions” on the Gaza side of the border damaged the facility. They gave no further details.
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The closures followed a stern warning by Egypt against what it called attempts to force Palestinians in the Gaza Strip into Sinai in a “mass movement” to escape the shelling and air strikes.
Quoting unnamed Egyptian sources, the statement “emphasised the danger of calls for mass population movement that will empty the (Gaza) Strip and liquidate the Palestinian issue itself. Moreover, Egyptian sovereignty is not fair game.”
Israel, it added, has a responsibility to find “humanitarian corridors” to save the people of Gaza.
The closure of the Sinai crossings means the narrow coastal strip is now besieged.
Briefing foreign reporters, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht initially said he would advise Palestinian refugees to “get out” through the Rafah crossing on Gaza’s southern border with Egypt. His office later issued a statement, saying: “Clarification: The Rafah crossing was open yesterday, but now it is closed.”
The Egyptian statement was issued hours before the comments made by Lt-Col Hect.
Egypt has in the past expressed alarm that Israel was considering resettling Gaza’s Palestinians in the sparsely populated Sinai and those of the West Bank in Jordan.
Egypt became the first Arab nation to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. Four decades later, its relations with its neighbour were described as a “cold peace”.
However, that has changed in the past decade, with both countries now coordinating counterterrorism efforts and those against human trafficking into Israel.