But by nightfall he was back, despondent after his third failed attempt this week to exit the blockaded Gaza Strip through the congested Rafah border crossing. Egypt has opened Rafah for the duration of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, temporarily easing a border blockade of Gaza that it has enforced, along with Israel, for the past 11 years. Most Gaza residents can’t travel at all under the strict blockade imposed after the Islamic militant Hamas group seized the territory in 2007. Egyptian border officials had been clearing only about 250 travellers a day, about a third of the usual volume in the past. He kept checking his phone and pacing up and down as Hamas officials — sitting behind a counter and separated from the crowd by a fence — called out names.

Source: National Post May 25, 2018 05:48 UTC