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Egypt squanders Gaza war opportunities

Unlike during previous wars in the Gaza Strip, Egypt — distracted by its own internal affairs — is isolated politically while its Gazan neighbors across the border in Rafah find themselves in a dire situation.
Palestinians standing behind the gate of Rafah crossing hold their passports as they try to cross into Egypt, in the southern Gaza Strip July 10, 2014. At least 74 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israel's Gaza offensive, Palestinian officials said on Thursday, and militants kept up rocket attacks on Tel Aviv and other cities in warfare showing no signs of ending soon. Egypt's state news agency said Egyptian authorities had decided to open the Rafah border crossing to Gaza on Thursd
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CAIRO — On Aug. 1, Egypt decided to fully shut down the Rafah border crossing into the Gaza Strip as Israeli air force, navy and ground artillery pounded Rafah on the Palestinian side a few hundred yards away, in the aftermath of another kidnapping operation executed by Palestinian resistance factions. Among those stranded under fire were Egyptians, Westerners and helpless Palestinian victims of the inhumane Israeli shelling.

On the same day but a few thousand miles to the west, the Tunisian authorities decided not only to shut down the Ras Ajdir border crossing in the face of thousands of Egyptians and other nationalities fleeing Libya's deadly strife, but fended them off using tear gas and warning shots. Several Egyptians were killed amid the stampede and random Libyan fire at the border.

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