After months of a total ban on the entry of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip into pre-1967 Israel, Israel’s Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz approved a series of measures to relax the restrictions on Tuesday, to be implemented in the coming days, reports the Israeli daily Haaretz.
Among the measures will be allowing the entry into Israel of one thousand workers from the Gaza Strip; the entry of several hundred workers from Gaza into the Erez industrial zone, which lies between the strip and pre-1967 Israel; and visitation rights for families of prisoners.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army has lessened its activities in the Palestinian territories by 80 percent, restricting itself only to activities which aim at thwarting planned terror attacks. In the next few days Israel and the Palestinians will discuss the handover of responsibility for the security of Palestinian cities to the Palestinians.
According to the Haaretz report, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told military officers on Tuesday that, “the final word of the terror organizations has not been said yet… you must be prepared for the possibility of returning the situation to the way it was before.”