GAZA, Aug. 2 (Xinhuanet) -- Director of Palestinian Crossings and Borders Saleem Abu Safiyye said Monday that Israel retreated from its decision to open Rafah Crossing on the borders between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

    Abu Safiyye said, "we saw a possibility of opening the crossing yesterday, but the Israeli occupation authorities retreated fromtheir decision under false justifications."

    He added that through "our contacts with them (Israelis), they claim that there are tunnels and security warnings" and the Israeli side intended to open the crossing "when they finish with the warnings, but did not set a date for that yet".

    Israel had shut down Rafah Crossing three weeks ago, which had kept thousands of Palestinians returning from abroad stranded at the Egyptian side of the terminal.

    Rafah was the only terminal for Palestinians to leave the Palestinian territories for abroad.

    Abu Safiyye believed that the matter "is a political decision since they want to convince the Palestinian National Authority(PNA) to use an alternative crossing".

    Israel noted that they could offer assistance through using another crossing such as Nitsanit (60km south east of Rafah), according to Abu Safiyye.

    He added that the Palestinian side agreed in principle to use that crossing if all Palestinians stranded at Rafah Crossing were allowed to enter.

    However, the Israelis said they were ready to allow in only a few hundreds, Abu Safiyye said. Enditem