Egypt closed its Rafah border crossing in Sinai with the Palestinian Gaza Strip on Monday after a deadly attack nearby that killed 24 policeman, a border official told AFP.
Last week, Egypt said it would close the crossing indefinitely, but it was partially reopened on Saturday, according to the Hamas-run interior ministry in Gaza.
The decision to close the crossing, which is the only way most Palestinians in Gaza can leave the territory, comes after 24 Egyptian police were killed in an attack nearby.
The police were targeted by militants who fired rocket-propelled grenades at two buses travelling from the town of Rafah on the Egyptian side of the border with Gaza, security and medical security said.
Three others were injured, the interior ministry said, blaming “armed terrorist groups” for the attack in north Sinai.
It was the deadliest attack of its kind in years, with the toll exceeding even that of an August 2012 attack on Egyptian troops in the Sinai Peninsula that killed 16 soldiers.
In other developments, a newspaper in Kuwait has said the country is to deport nine Egyptian pro-Morsi demonstrators for participating in protests outside their embassy in the Gulf emirate which bans foreigners from demonstrating.
The men were among a group of some 70 protesters who staged two demonstrations outside the Egyptian embassy and consulate last week, to protest last week’s crackdown in Cairo of Morsi supporters, al-Rai newspaper reported.
The daily said that police were still working on identifying other protesters, who could also face deportation, pointing out that the law in Kuwait bans foreigners from staging protests.
Kuwait has been vocal in backing Egypt’s military ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Morsi on July 3, following large nationwide protests.
It pledged an urgent aid package of $4bn to Egypt, as neighbouring Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates pledged $5bn and $3bn respectively.
