Egyptian authorities have closed the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip “indefinitely” for security reasons after a day of deadly violence nationwide, a security official told AFP on Thursday.
Hundreds of Palestinian travellers were left stranded on both sides of the crossing, the only gateway into the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory that bypasses Israel, witnesses said.
The measure follows widespread unrest in Egypt on yesterday after a bloody crackdown by security forces on loyalists of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.
The Egyptian authorities closed the border crossing for several days after the military overthrew Morsi on July 3. It later re-opened for four hours a day.
Hamas, the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, strongly denounced yesterday’s crackdown by security forces on protest camps set up in support of Morsi, who also hails from the Brotherhood.
At least 464 people were killed in violence across Egypt sparked by the crackdown, the health ministry said on Thursday.