Egyptian authorities are set to open the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza for three days on Tuesday to allow Palestinian Arabs to cross for the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, the Ma'an news agency reported Saturday. The director for the Palestinian side of Rafah crossing, Hisham Adwan, told Ma’an that the Egyptian authorities informed him that the crossing would be open from Tuesday until Thursday. Egyptian authorities have kept the Rafah crossing virtually sealed since a terrorist attack in the Sinai Peninsula in October 2014, though they have temporarily reopened the crossing several times since that specific attack, most recently in early July . Sources in Egypt have revealed that Hamas terrorists had provided the weapons for the lethal October 2014 attack, which killed 30 soldiers, through one of its smuggling tunnels under the border to Sinai. Hamas denies the allegations. In the past, Hamas has blamed Israel or Egypt for the closure of the crossing, but it has recently changed its tune and is now blaming the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA), led by chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
