Egypt pledges to seal Gaza border

I assume that the Egyptian government has, via the US, come under pressure to close the border and stem the Israeli embarrassment resulting from the recent mass exodus of Palestinians through the explosively created break in the Gaza barrier at Rafah.

“...if Gaza could be said to be the world’s largest prison, the this is the largest jailbreak….” -Al Jazeera. No doubt this latest apparent loss of control over the long-occupied territory will be embarrassing to Israel.

The Egyptian government mustn’t appear too harsh on the Palestinians because they have widespread support throughout Egypt. Thus, this promise to seal the border may be largely a political appeasement measure…

Egypt has assured the US that it will soon close off it’s border with the Gaza strip to prevent Palestinians from desperately trying to enter the country to access goods they can’t afford or gain access to in their closed-off territory, said Arab and US officials.

Washington has expressed its concern over the high number of Palestinians pouring into Egypt from the impoverished seaside territory controlled by Hamas militants. The US has refrained from criticizing Egypt’s response to the influx of Palestinians or Israel’s role in sealing its much larger borders with Gaza.

It is estimated that around 50,000 people had crossed through breaches in border barrier by late Wednesday afternoon.

Egypt expects the exodus to end by midday Thursday and has pledged to rebuild a border barrier smashed by Hamas militants.

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