The Palestinian airport in the Gaza Strip reopened early Tuesday after a one-day closure imposed by Israel, the director of the airport told AFP.
The only Palestinian-run airport opened, and two flights departed, to Abu Dhabi and Amman, according to the airport's director general Salman Abu Halib.
"The airport will be opened to air traffic following an agreement signed tonight (Monday) at Erez," the frontier point between Israel and the Gaza Strip, Halib said.
The agreement was signed between Palestinian intelligence chief General Amin al-Hindi and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's security advisor, Danny Yatom.
Earlier, Halib announced the closure of the facility, saying "the director of the Israeli air traffic department informed us that the airport would be closed until further notice."
He told AFP the Palestinians, who control the airport, were planning on flying people wounded in clashes with Israeli troops out for treatment in Arab countries on Tuesday.
The Palestinian airport at Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip was first closed October 8 but flights resumed on October 19 following the Sharm el-Sheikh summit in Egypt aimed at quelling the wave of unrest.
Yasser Arafat International Airport was first opened in November 1998 and seen as one of the major symbols of Palestinian aspirations for an independent state -- RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AFP)
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