Hamas Spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri expressed the Movement’s appreciation of the Egyptian decision to retain the Rafah border crossing open through Friday night to enable the passage of a bigger number of Palestinians.

In a press release on Saturday, Abu Zuhri called on Egypt to extend the opening of the border terminal to enable thousands of other stranded Palestinians to cross.

He noted that Cairo had notified the Movement and other factions that maintaining the crossing open was dependent on the security condition in Sinai, yet hoped that Egypt would agree to facilitate the passage of more Palestinian travelers.

The Egyptian authorities had closed the border terminal for 318 days in the first 11 months of 2015, including the past 105 consecutive days, while the crossing was open for only 19 days.