Special to WorldTribune.com

Egypt opened its border crossing with the Gaza Strip at Rafah on Dec. 3 for the first time in months even as the government placed its security forces on alert.

Egyptian intelligence officials were said to be bracing for mass-casualty attacks by the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL).

preparations for what could be a series of mass-casualty attacks. They said ISIL could strike in both the African mainland as well as the Sinai Peninsula.

Egyptian officials said the Rafah crossing would be opened Dec. 3-4 to allow entrance to “humanitarian cases.”

The border at Rafah has been officially closed since Oct. 24, 2014 when Sinai-based terrorists attacked the Qarm Al-Qawadis checkpoint, killing 33 Egyptian security personnel. Since the attacks, the crossing has only been opened in exceptional cases, or for humanitarian purposes.

Egypt has launched a major crackdown on terror activity near the Gaza border and has destroyed dozens of smuggling tunnels.

According to a report by state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper, Egyptian President Abdul Fatah Sisi reached an agreement in November with Palestinian leaders to open the Rafah crossing.

The report said Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri had expressed the Gaza group’s “persistence to reach a deal that would allow the crossing to be opened more frequently.”

The Palestinian Interior Ministry in Gaza was highly critical of Egypt’s one-day opening of the Rafah crossing in October, calling on Sisi to authorize two-way passage through the border to allow for “thousands of humanitarian cases.”

  Abdul Fatah Sisi, but opens border crossing at Rafah, Egypt goes on high alert, humanitarian cases, WorldTribune.com