Egypt closes Gaza border, leaving thousands of Palestinians stranded, and nobody cares

(The Daily Star) Egypt’s decision to shut its border with the Gaza Strip has stranded thousands of Palestinians on the Egyptian side of the border while around a thousand people in Gaza are desperate to get out for medical treatment in Egypt, officials in Gaza say.

Egypt closed Rafah, the only crossing point between Egypt and the Palestinian territory, Oct. 25 after attacks by Islamist militants which killed 33 Egyptian soldiers, an assault that prompted Cairo to declare a state of emergency in the area.

It is also pressing ahead with a 1-kilometer buffer zone with Gaza, partly to clamp down on the smuggling of arms and other goods across the border, a business that helps finance Hamas.

One of the unintended consequences of the security clampdown is that some 6,000 Palestinians are now stuck in Egypt or third countries waiting to get back into Gaza.

Another 1,000 people suffering from medical problems including kidney failure, cancer and blood-related diseases seek urgent treatment or further diagnosis in Egypt, said Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesman for the Gaza Health Ministry. “If the closure continues, their health conditions will deteriorate and we may start to witness some deaths,” he said.

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