Last update - 00:00 03/12/2007
Egypt relaxes border with Gaza to let pilgrims travel to Mecca
By The Associated Press
Egypt opened its border crossing with Gaza on Monday to let in Palestinian pilgrims headed for Saudi Arabia - the first time Palestinians have been allowed to enter Egyptian territory since Hamas militants seized Gaza in June.
Some 700 pilgrims hoped to pass through Egypt on Monday after receiving visas from Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's two holiest sites, Mecca and Medina. One busload crossed through by mid-morning.
Marwan Shurafi, whose mother left for Egypt on Monday, said the pilgrims wore traditional white clothing and chanted in praise of Allah as they crossed into Egypt.
The pilgrimage, or hajj, is an obligation every Muslim is expected to carry out once in a lifetime.
Salah al-Rikib, Hamas' deputy minister for religious affairs, said his
government smuggled the passports of 2,200 Gaza pilgrims through a tunnel into Egypt, where the Saudi Arabian consulate issued them visas. The passports were then returned to Gaza through a tunnel, he said.
Egypt and Israel all but sealed their borders with Gaza after the Hamas
takeover, confining 1.5 million Gazans to the crowded territory. Israel has allowed small numbers of Gaza residents to leave through its territory for humanitarian reasons, but this was the first time Egypt has agreed to let Gazans pass through its territory since the takeover.
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