IDF confirms Kerem Shalom and Erez crossings fully re-opened after they were closed a week earlier after rockets launched.
By YAAKOV LAPPIN, JPOST.COM STAFFTrucks at the Kerem Shalom Crossing in Gaza 390 (R)(photo credit: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / Reuters)
A week after ordering border crossings with Gaza closed in response to a Palestinian rocket attack, Israel reopened two terminals on Thursday morning.The Kerem Shalom goods border passage and Erez pedestrian terminal were both operating at normal capacity, the IDF confirmed.Last week, freshly appointed Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon ordered Kerem Shalom fully shut, and minimized activities at Erez to allow humanitarian crossings only.Ya’alon also restricted Gaza’s fishing area from five to 10 kilometers from the coastline. That restriction remains in place for the time being.The crossings are controlled by the IDF’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories.The closures came after Palestinians fired rockets into southern Israel during the visit of United States President Barack Obama. One projectile damaged a home in Sderot, and a second fell in an open area. Two more landed inside Gaza. The attack triggered rocket sirens and sent residents flying – after a prolonged truce.Hamas on Friday arrested two members of a Gaza-based jihadi organization in connection with the rockets, Israel Radio reported.The report said Hamas arrested two members of the Salafi Magles Shoura al-Mujahddin organization. In an Internet statement, the group said it had fired the rockets to show that Israeli air defenses could not stop attacks during Obama’s visit.Before the arrests, defense sources told The Jerusalem Post they believed the rockets had been fired by a small terrorist group, and not Hamas.
