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Hamas urges to end Egypt-Israel blockade on Gaza

19 March 2014 01:38 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Islamic Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip urged the international community on Tuesday to seriously intervene to end the blockade imposed on Gaza by Israel and Egypt, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

In a news statement, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum called on human rights, popular and youths groups to swiftly move toward Gaza to put an end to the closure of the territory's crossing by Israel and Egypt.

Barhoum accused Egypt of intentionally blocking its Rafah crossing, Gaza's only door to the outside world, and preventing thousands of patients and humanitarian cases from traveling.

Israel's military escalation, the ongoing blockade and the closure of crossings are indicators of a future grave deterioration of the humanitarian, economic and ecology conditions in Gaza, the spokesman said.

"Those who are blockading Gaza are held responsible for the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza," he pointed out.

Earlier in the day, Maher Abu Sabha, director of Rafah crossing on the Palestinian side, said that Egyptian officials at the crossing have severed contacts with their Palestinian counterparts a few days ago for unknown reasons.

Egypt has blocked the Rafah crossing for 35 days, only partially reopened it for three days two weeks ago for Palestinian pilgrimages travelling to Saudi Arabia for a worshipping journey.

Gaza has two crossings with Israel, but they are subject to strict restrictions since Hamas took over of Gaza in 2007.

The relations between Hamas and Egypt's new military-backed government have worsened to unprecedented levels after the ouster of the latter's former Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, a Hamas patron, in last July.

Since then the new Egyptian government has partly reopened the Rafah crossing on humanitarian basis, allowing only the entry of patients, students in foreign countries and holders of foreign visas and passports.

Morsi was charged of cooperating with Hamas militants and helping them carry out a prison break in Egypt to release him together with a number of Muslim Brotherhood members during the 2011 protests.

Cairo also accused Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood group, of interfering in Egyptian internal affairs and aiding Islamist militants who targeted the Egyptian army in neighboring Sinai Peninsula.

Earlier this month, an Egyptian court ruled to ban Hamas activities in Cairo and ordered that all the movement's offices in the country be confiscated and shut down.