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Egypt allows in Gazans

It was the first time in months that the border was opened.

RAFAH, Gaza Strip - Egypt opened its borders with the Gaza Strip for the first time in months Saturday, allowing Palestinians to enter and leave the isolated coastal strip.

The Rafah border crossing will operate for six hours a day for the coming three days and 15,000 people Palestinians have applied to exit to Egypt, said Maher Abu Sabha, head of the Gaza side of the crossing. He said those were humanitarian cases and included medical patients, students, and Arab residents whose residency permits were about to expire. However, he said only 1,500 of those were actually expected to pass through.

Rafah is Gaza's only gateway to the outside world with no Israeli control. Egypt has kept it mostly closed since the extremist group Hamas seized control of the coastal strip in 2007. The closure worsened after Egypt's military ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood member, in 2013. Hamas is an offshoot of the Brotherhood.

Egypt has opened the Rafah crossing in both directions only five days this year. Last month, it allowed the return of Palestinians stranded in Egypt.

Outside the crossing, hundreds of Palestinians struggled for a chance to ride one of the buses that would go inside the crossing.

The opening of the crossing is seen as a humanitarian gesture by Egypt ahead of Muslims' holy fasting month of Ramadan.