World Bulletin / News Desk 

Egyptian authorities will open the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip from one direction on Tuesday and Wednesday, border officials on both sides of the terminal have said.

"Egyptian authorities have informed their Palestinian counterparts that the Rafah crossing will be opened on Tuesday and Wednesday to allow those who are stranded on the Egyptian side to enter the Gaza Strip," Maher Abu Sabha, the head of Gaza's border authority, told.

Abu Sabha urged Egyptian authorities to open the border crossing in both directions to allow over 15,000 Palestinian "humanitarian cases," including 3,000 medical patients, to cross into Egypt from the blockaded coastal enclave.

Egypt's official news agency, for its part, has also reported that the Rafah crossing will be opened in the direction of Egypt-to-Gaza only on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Rafah crossing is Gaza's only gate to the outside world while Israel closes most of its border crossings with the coastal territory.