Egypt's decision Wednesday to end its blockade of Gaza by opening the only crossing to the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory this weekend could ease the isolation of 1.4 million Palestinians there.
It also puts the new Egyptian regime at odds with Israel, which insists on careful monitoring of people and goods entering Gaza for security reasons.
The Rafah crossing will be open permanently starting Saturday, Egypt's official Middle East News Agency announced.
That would provide Gaza Palestinians their first open border to the world in four years, since Egypt and Israel slammed their crossings shut after the Islamic militant Hamas overran the Gaza Strip in 2007.
The move suggested a further policy shift since the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak, whose government cooperated with the Jewish state in enforcing a blockade on the Islamist Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and has a 1979 peace treaty with Israel.
Under Mubarak, Egypt only sporadically opened up the Rafah border crossing for food and medicine, or to let through people, mainly those seeking medical treatment or traveling to study from the area which is home to about 1.5 million Palestinians.
"Egyptian authorities have decided to extend the working hours at the Rafah border crossing starting from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on a daily basis, except for Fridays and official holidays, starting Saturday, May 28," MENA said.
It said the decision came as "part of Egyptian efforts to end divisions among Palestinians and to finalize their reconciliation."
Hamas welcomed the decision.
Mohammed Awad, the Hamas minister of foreign affairs, said he "highly appreciates the decision by the Egyptian brothers to ease the process of travel at Rafah terminal. This reflects the deep relation between us and Egypt, and it will contribute to ease the lives of the Palestinians in Gaza."
Egypt brokered a reconciliation deal between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group and its Hamas rivals that ended a four-year rift calling for setting up a government of technocrats to prepare for elections within a year.
Israeli blockade
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Menha Bakhoum said Egypt had not consulted any foreign country over the decision, which she said was made before the reconciliation accord was reached.
"This is a sovereign Egyptian decision in the first place," she told Jazeera by telephone.
Asked if European observers, who were based at the Palestinian side of the crossing before it was closed in 2007 when Hamas seized the Gaza Strip from Abbas's Fatah group, would return, she said: "We don't know."
She said the Egyptian decision was intended to "ease the suffering of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip."
Col. Ayoub Abu Shaer, Gaza director of the Rafah terminal, said the two sides have been discussing the changes in recent weeks. Under the proposal, women would be able to leave Gaza without restrictions, while men between the ages of 18 and 40 would have to obtain visas for Egypt at the border.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor refused to comment.
Benoit Cusin, a representative of the European observers, said they have not received instructions from Israel or the Palestinians. "We are ready when they are," he said.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the crossing was already open some of the time. "The U.S. supports efforts to meet the humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people in Gaza," he told The Associated Press. "Efforts should also ensure that the transfer of weapons or other materiel and financial support for terrorism is blocked."
Israel, which had earlier expressed hope that the clampdown on the Egypt-Gaza border would remain in place, was circumspect about Cairo's plans.
It has urged Egyptian authorities to prevent Rafah terminal being used as a conduit for weapons or militants.
Israeli officials were not immediately available to comment on Wednesday's announcement.
MENA said that Egyptian authorities have also decided to allow all Palestinian men over the age of 40 and those under the age of 18 to travel to Egypt from anywhere in the world without a visa. Women of all ages will be exempt from visas, it said.
Students of all ages with letters of acceptance from Egyptian universities will also be allowed to enter Egypt without any restrictions.
But the agency said that thousands of Palestinians trapped in war-torn Libya will continue to be subject to the same regulations that exist now "due to the existing conditions which require them to receive an advanced visa for all age groups."
It gave no further details.
