GAZA, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- Hamas said on Sunday that any Israeli obstacles or conditions on operating the Rafah crossing would violate the ceasefire agreement.
The reopening is "a right of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip," Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said in a statement, adding that freedom of movement through the crossing is "a right guaranteed by all international laws and resolutions."
Qassem called on the mediators and guarantor states of the agreement to monitor Israel's conduct at the Rafah crossing to ensure that Israel does not impose a new siege on the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, Ismail Thawabteh, director of Hamas's media office in Gaza, said in a press statement that 22,000 wounded and sick individuals urgently need to leave the enclave for medical treatment, and more than 18,000 medical referrals are ready for travel.
Thawabteh added that more than 80,000 Palestinian families wish to return to the Strip, but the first phase of opening will only include the passage of the wounded and sick, in addition to holders of Egyptian passports.
Earlier on Sunday, the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt was reopened on a trial basis after being closed for more than a year and a half, as part of the implementation of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement, Palestinian and Israeli sources said.
Palestinian sources told Xinhua that the current step is a preliminary trial to test the crossing's technical and administrative mechanisms, with a joint Palestinian-Egyptian-European delegation conducting operational simulations and no actual movement of travelers or patients yet. ■
