More than 5,000 Gazans remain stranded in Al-Arish

Date: 02 / 02 / 2008  Time:  12:39

Gaza – Ma'an –

More than 5,000 Gazan students, patients and businesspeople remained stranded on Saturday for the eleventh consecutive day in the Egyptian border town of Al-Arish.

On Friday evening Egyptian authorities allowed around 2,000 of the stranded Gazans passage to Cairo airport to fly to their destinations abroad but those remaining in Al-Arish say they are still suffering.

Many told Ma'an they were shocked by news reports which said 2,000 people had already left the country for their destinations.

A Palestinian student said the number of those still left are sleeping in mosques and are living under extremely harsh conditions.

One Palestinian woman, who gave her name as Nada, suspects the harsh weather has exacerbated her arthritis.

Since last Wednesday, hundreds of thousands of Gazans crossed the newly-opened border into Egypt, mainly to shop for supplies made scarce by the Israeli blockade of the territory.

Most of the Gaza Strip’s 1.5 million residents have been trapped in side the Strip by Israeli closure policy since last June. Among them are thousands of students enrolled in foreign universities, people who work abroad, and patients in need of medical treatments not available inside Gaza.

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