CAIRO: Around 2,400 Palestinians out of 6,000 stranded in Egypt for weeks have made it back to Gaza since Israel started allowing them passage last week, a Palestinian security source told AFP.
On Thursday, 800 Palestinians reached the Al-Oja (Nizana) cargo crossing on the Egypt-Israel border, south of the divided town of Rafah, the official said, the latest batch since the first Palestinians went home on Sunday.
The Palestinians had been trapped in and around the Egyptian town of El-Arish in north Sinai following the closing of the nearby Rafah terminal, Gaza s only door to the outside world bypassing Israel, after the territory was taken over on June 15 by the Islamist Hamas movement.
The fate of the remaining Palestinians, many of whom are Hamas supporters, remains in limbo.
When open, Rafah is operated in close cooperation by Egypt, European Union monitors, Israel and the Palestinians, and can be closed if any one party refuses to participate.
Hamas, which does not recognize Israel, has objected to the Jewish state being able to control who is allowed to travel from Egypt into Gaza.
