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<h1 class="article-title">Gazans Begin Hunger Strike over Rafah
Crossing Closure</h1>
<div class="article-subtitledetails">
<span class="article-details">
<span class="article-detail"><img class="icon"
src="cid:part1.08050602.00080407@freedomarchives.org"
alt="author"> Thursday June 04, 2015 01:23</span><span
class="article-detail"><img class="icon"
src="cid:part2.01070001.08080908@freedomarchives.org"
alt="author"> by IMEMC <br>
<b><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.imemc.org/article/71811">http://www.imemc.org/article/71811</a></small></small></b></span></span></div>
<blockquote class="article-intro">Gazans unable to travel due to
Rafah crossing's closure started, on Tuesday, an open-ended hunger
strike, calling for Egyptians to open it.</blockquote>
Days of Palestine reports that the hunger strikers set up a tent
near the crossing and put up a number of posters including: “People
stuck in Gaza call for Egyptian Authorities to open the Rafah
crossing in both directions.”<br>
<br>
Another poster read: “We call for the UN and all human rights
organisations to facilitate the travel of Gaza’s patients… Gaza’s
patients are awaiting death because of the closure of the crossing.
We are humans… Where are President Abbas and the unity government?”<br>
<br>
The hunger strikers said that they would continue their strike until
the crossing is opened, calling for the Palestinian Authority and
the Palestinian unity government to take action to make this happen.<br>
<br>
Spokesman for the strikers, Majdi abu-Kareem, said that around
15,000 Palestinians need to travel urgently and they are “just
waiting for the crossing to open”.<br>
<br>
“Some of the people who are unable to travel are patients, some are
university students and some are foreign passport holders facing
expiration deadlines,” he said. “The passports of a number of
foreign passport holders have expired.”<br>
<br>
“The continuous closure of the crossing increases the suffering of
the people of Gaza,” Abu-Kareem also said. “The closure makes the
coastal enclave the biggest prison in the world.”
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