Israel to reopen Gaza crossings closed after rocket attacks
Israel was reopening some border crossings with Gaza on Sunday, an official said, after it closed them on Thursday following the launch of a rocket into the Jewish state by Palestinian militants. Reopening the crossings will allow goods, including food and gasoline, into the largely blockaded territory and humanitarian cases into Israel for medical treatment. The rocket landed in an open area on Thursday and did not cause any casualties. Regardless of the firing, the crossings are generally closed from Friday afternoon to Sunday. Israeli official Peter Lerner said the Erez crossing, the main passage for people between Gaza and Israel, would be opened to allow Gazans in need of urgent medical attention travel into Israel. Lerner said the Sufa crossing would be opened to allow goods and cement into the Gaza Strip, and the Nahal Oz fuel depot would also be opened. The Karni crossing, which is undergoing renovations, will remain closed. Israel had shut the crossings on June 25 after Islamic Jihad launched a cross-border rocket attack in what the militant group described as a response to the killing by the Israel Defense Forces of one of its leaders in the occupied West Bank. Israel cut back sharply on the supply of goods into the Gaza Strip a year ago, after Hamas seized the territory from forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas's more secular Fatah faction. The West Bank is not covered by the cease-fire, but Islamic Jihad had put Israel on notice that it might react violently to raids in the territory. (12,25)
