31 December 2015•Update: 05 January 2016
RAFAH, Gaza
Egypt opened the Rafah border crossing Thursday to allow the passage of the body of a Palestinian killed by the Egyptian army, a Palestinian border source told Anadolu Agency.
Al-Jazeera had broadcast a video on Friday that showed a completely naked Palestinian man being shot at multiple times by Egyptian army officers as he tried to cross from Gaza into Egypt through the Rafah naval border.
The video also shows a Palestinian security personnel asking Egyptian forces not to shoot and signaling to them that the man suffers from a mental disorder.
The victim has since been identified as 28-year-old Ishak Hassan.
Gaza’s Ministry of Interior has condemned the incident, calling it a “cold-blooded execution.”
Meanwhile, the ministry said in a Thursday statement that Egypt opened the Rafah crossing for only 21 days in 2015.
Around 21,295 passed via the crossing in both ways in 2015, according to the ministry.
Egypt has tightened its grip on the border with the blockaded Gaza Strip since the 2013 coup against President Mohamed Morsi.
The repeated closures of the crossing have made life even more difficult for Gaza’s roughly 1.9 million residents.
- Ahmed Amin contributed to this report.
