Israel offers to open Egypt-Gaza crossing to enable entry of 5,000 people.
By YAAKOV KATZ, JPOST.COM STAFFIsr Egy border 298.88(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Israel offered on Friday to allow the opening of the Kerem Shalom border crossing, to let 500 Palestinians, waiting on the Egyptian side of the border, into the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinians rejected the offer out of their refusal to allow Israel to monitor the people passing through the crossing, Israel Radio reported.
The offer was made out of humanitarian concerns, after the three-way crossing had been closed for nearly two weeks, since Cpl. Gilad Shalit was kidnapped by Palestinian operatives.
On Thursday there were Palestinian reports that Israel was going to permit the opening of the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. The security establishment discussed the possibility, but it was eventually rejected.
The Karni crossing was opened briefly to allow the entry of trucks carrying food, medicine and humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip on Thursday, but was closed ahead of schedule following an alert of an impending attack at the site.
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