Egypt Closes Gaza Border After Kidnapping of Police
Image by Getty Images
Egyptian police blocked the crossing into the Gaza Strip on Friday in protest against the kidnapping of seven of their colleagues by Islamist gunmen, witnesses said.
Officers strung barbed wire across the Rafah border post and chained up the gates, leaving hundreds of Palestinians stranded on both sides of the fence, locals told Reuters.
Gunmen abducted the seven police and soldiers on a road between the Sinai towns of el-Arish and Rafah on Thursday, demanding the release of imprisoned militants in exchange for the men.
Three of those abducted have worked at the crossing, locals told Reuters.
Hardline Islamist groups based in North Sinai have exploited the collapse of state authority after the 2011 uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak to launch attacks across the border into Israel and on Egyptian targets.
The protesting police called on Egypt’s Islamist President Mohamed Mursi to help free their colleagues. They said they would not open the crossing until the men were released, state news agency MENA reported.
A policeman was released shortly after the abduction as a sign of goodwill, but there was no information on the six remaining men, security sources told Reuters.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
