EGYPT has opened the Rafah border crossing with Gaza for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has announced, in what would be the longest uninterrupted period since 2013.

The move is meant as a humanitarian gesture during the annual holiday, one of the few occasions in which Egypt allows some Gazans stranded by a 2007 Egypt-Israel blockade to leave and return to the territory ruled by the militant Islamic group Hamas.

The announcement came days after Israeli forces shot and killed 59 Palestinians and injured more than 2700 during mass protests along the Gaza border.

El-Sisi wrote on his official Twitter account that the opening would “ease the burden on our brothers in the Gaza Strip”.

Adham Abu Selmia, head of the Hamas-linked National Committee to Break Gaza Siege, welcomed the extension as a “positive step”.

“We hope the crossing will stay open as a normal right,” he said, calling for an increase in the number of departures.

The crossing has been open since Saturday so el-Sisi’s announcement is technically an extension and Egyptian authorities said 510 people crossed on Wednesday, the majority coming from Gaza into Egypt. On Thursday, 541 people from Egypt went Gaza along with trucks carrying cement, steel, power engines and medicine and food from the Red Crescent.