Egypt says Gaza's Rafah crossing remains open to humanitarian cases

Egypt continued the opening of the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip on Monday, local media reported.

The decision came after a government directive to "help stranded Palestinians" and humanitarian cases in the besieged strip to move on both sides of the border, Al-Shorouk daily reported.

Last May, Palestinian factions involved in a conflict with Israel saw the Rafah border closed.

On May 21, Egypt brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas-led militants in the Gaza Strip, which ended 11 days of fighting that left more than 250 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.

Meanwhile, Qatar has sent more than $1.5 billion in aid to the Palestinians.

Since then, the crossing saw notable security presence, Egypt-based Middle East News Agency reported.

The Rafah crossing is seeing the movement of aid and construction materials into Gaza.

However, Palestinians blame Egypt for using the Rafah crossing as a means of pressuring Hamas, which runs Gaza, to make concessions with Israel.

In August, the Egyptian authorities shut down the crossing following demonstrations in northern Gaza. It briefly reopened in November after Qatar and Egypt agreed to let fuel and construction materials enter the Palestinian enclave.

This story has been edited to note the earlier opening of the Rafah border crossing.