Israel reopened the crossing today of Erez with the Gaza Stripwhich has been closed for nearly two weeks to day laborers, amid near-daily violence between young Palestinians and Israeli soldiers on the border.

The announcement was made by Cogat, the Israeli Defense Ministry body that oversees civilian activities in the Palestinian Territories, and an AFP reporter in Gaza found that the border crossing had already reopened by early morning, allowing thousands of Palestinians to return to work. on the Israeli side.

“At midnight we learned that the Erez terminal will reopen today and at 01:00 (04:00 Greek time) in the morning, I came here to wait,” said Auni Abu Oda, a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip who usually works at Tel Aviv.

The local representative of the Federation of Palestinian Trade Unions, Sami Amsi, called the reopening of the border crossing a “positive step” but called its closure for more than ten days a “collective punishment”.

“We have nothing to do with these problems, I hope those who work stay out of these stories because we suffer when Erez is closed,” noted Ayman Al Rifi, a father of eight who works in a Jaffa restaurant.

Israeli authorities closed the Erez border crossing, the only one allowing Palestinians to travel between Israel and the Gaza Strip — serving 18,500 permit holders — on September 15, before the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah. sponsored by Israel, according to Cogat. Initially, it was planned to reopen on Monday, September 18, the day after the holiday.

On September 13, 5 Palestinians were killed by an improvised explosive device in clashes with the Israeli army near the fence that Israel has erected along its border with the Gaza Strip.

On Friday, September 15, following new episodes of violence, the Israeli military carried out an airstrike against a military position of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement in power in Gaza, for the first time since early July.

And on the evening of September 17, after fresh clashes around the fence, Cogat announced that the reopening of the Erez crossing would be delayed by 24 hours, the time needed for a “security assessment”.

Since then, clashes, described as “riots” by the Israeli military, have been almost daily near the fence. Since September 13, a total of 7 Palestinians have been killed and over 100 injured in these violent incidents, according to the Hamas Health Ministry.

Gisha, an Israeli non-governmental organization that fights for the freedom of movement of Palestinians, had described on September 19 as “illegal collective punishment” the Israeli decision “to block traffic through Erez in response to the protests.”

Erez is usually closed to Israeli work permit holders on Fridays and Saturdays.

About 2.3 million Palestinians live in Gaza, which has been blockaded by Israel since Hamas took power there in 2007.