Egypt to close border crossing with Gaza for Eid holiday period

Egypt will close its Rafah border crossing with the blockaded Gaza Strip for the period of the Eid holidays, security sources announced Sunday.

The crossing will be closed for three days to allow border officials to take time off for the Eid holiday, which comes at the end of the Ramadan month of fasting for Muslims.

	A Palestinian boy has his breakfast as he and his family wait to enter Egypt, at the Rafah border crossing in southern Gaza, on June 9, 2010.
	Photo by: AP

The closure period, from September 10 until September 12, will be the first time Egyptian authorities have closed the Rafah crossing since June.

Egypt opened the crossing for an unlimited period following the deaths of nine Turkish activists in late May. They were part of a flotilla aiming at breaking the blockade on the coastal territory.

The crossing has now been open for the longest period in the history of the Israeli-Egyptian blockade on Gaza. Security was tightened after the Islamist Hamas movement took control of the territory in 2007.

Palestinians with the appropriate paperwork have been allowed to cross back and forth, though many say they are still denied free movement.

The blockade on Gaza, which leaves more than 1.4 million Palestinian trapped in the strip and almost entirely reliant on international aid, has been described as a humanitarian disaster and a "flagrant violation of international law" by international rights group Amnesty International.