Dozens of armed Palestinians blew a large hole in the wall between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on Thursday.  Angry gunmen gathered near the Rafah Crossing and detonated a large explosive device at the border wall by the Salah Addin gate.

Witnesses reported that the explosion caused a big gap in the cement wall.

The gunmen threatened to explode dozens of explosive devices and cause many gaps in the border wall if "all parties do not work on returning Rafah Crossing to operation and ending the crisis of citizens stuck at the Crossing".

The gunmen called on the Europeans and Egyptians to work seriously on opening the Crossing and ending the suffering of the people, particularly the humanitarian cases, students and the citizens whose visas to Egypt have expired.  Thousands of people have been stuck at the border for weeks on end, unable to enter Gaza and prevented by Egyptian forces from returning back to Egypt.  At least seven people have died, several of them having gone to Egypt for medical treatment.

The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) and their military wing, the Salah Addin Brigades, threatened several days ago to "open the crossing by their special way" if the Israelis and Europeans did not ensure the Crossing returned to full operation.

*this article was sourced from Ma’an News Agency and local sources

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