Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas took control of the Palestinian side of the enclave’s main goods crossing with Israel, the strip’s interior ministry and an official news agency said Sunday. Hamas seized the Gaza Strip in 2007 in a near civil war with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’ Fatah party. The PA administration at the goods crossing said Sunday that Hamas had “expelled (its) employees and banned them from entering the crossing”, the official news agency Wafa reported. Hamas confirmed PA employees had left the crossing. Hamas employees quickly retook control of the Rafah crossing, the only way for Palestinians to leave the enclave that bypasses Israel.

Source: Punch February 17, 2019 20:15 UTC