Egyptian authorities yesterday announced that they would close the Rafah border crossing for one day, Maan News Agency  reported.

An inspection committee of Russian security experts will inspect security procedures at the Red Seas’s Hurghada International Airport, as part of Russia’s measures to prepare resumption of direct and charter flights to the city, airport sources said on Saturday.

Egyptian authorities thwarted an attempt of smuggling more than 2 tons of drugs, worth LE 2 billion [US $115,5 million] on board of a ship in the Red Sea, said the Ministry of Interior in a statement on Thursday.

The Egyptian navy yesterday entered Palestinian waters off the Gaza coast and arrested four Palestinian fishermen south of the Gaza Strip, Safa news agency reported.

Palestinians are now allowed to cross the Rafah border to perform the minor “Umrah” pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia for the first time after a four year ban, starting from Sunday March 3.

The sole passenger crossing between Gaza and Egypt will reopen in both directions Tuesday, Hamas said, after it was partially closed amid Palestinian political infighting.

Egypt has today closed the Rafah crossing in both directions stopping Palestinians from travelling in and out of the besieged Gaza Strip.

The Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza will reopen early next week, Hamas officials said on Thursday. The announcement follows the Palestinian Authority’s withdrawal last week from the key border, which it had been operating as part of a 2017 reconciliation agreement with Hamas.

The Egyptian border crossing was closed for Palestinians seeking to leave Gaza on Tuesday, a border official said, as infighting between Palestinian factions increases.

Three officers including the former head of the Border Guards Intelligence Office in North Sinai testified on Nov. 7 before the Cairo Criminal Court in the retrial of former President Mohamed Morsi and 28 other defendants affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood in the lawsuit known as “the illegal crossing of …