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Israel reopens Gaza border crossing; justice minister says move ‘unjustified’

Hamas leaders should be “taken out of their comfort zone,” says Israeli Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar.

Palestinian workers wait at the Erez border crossing in the northern Gaza Strip, March 13, 2022. Photo by Attia Muhammed/Flash90.
Palestinian workers wait at the Erez border crossing in the northern Gaza Strip, March 13, 2022. Photo by Attia Muhammed/Flash90.

Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories announced on Saturday that the Erez Border Crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip would reopen on Sunday.

Israel sealed the crossing, as well as the crossings between Israel and the Palestinian Authority-controlled areas, on May 3, preventing the flow of some 12,000 Palestinian Gazan workers into Israel. The closures were in response to Hamas’s role in stoking violence in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria.

The decision to reopen the crossing was opposed by Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who said the move was unjustified at this time.

In a tweet, Sa’ar cited the ongoing incitement by Hamas and its leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar, and he said the terror group’s leaders should be “taken out of their comfort zone.”

Israel reopened crossings linking Israel to Judea and Samaria on May 9.

During a heated exchange at a conference on conflict-related sexual violence, Israel’s ambassador accused senior United Nations representatives of bias against the Jewish state.
One of the soldiers was killed in an incident in which two others were critically injured and an officer was moderately injured.
“Hezbollah is Iran’s long arm and they don’t want a cease fire,” the ambassador said.
“IDF soldiers must stand between Hezbollah and Israeli civilians. We will not wait for the next attack to reach our homes.”
The Jewish state, by contrast, absorbed Holocaust survivors, Jews expelled from Arab states and others who did not maintain their refugee status.
U.S.-Iran talks have been postponed after an explosive drone killed four Israeli soldiers in Southern Lebanon.