The General Authority for Crossings and Borders denied, this Friday evening, misleading numbers regarding passengers traveling through the Rafah land crossing.

She said in a statement: “The numbers of departing or returning passengers are according to the usual annual rate, and there is no noticeable change in them according to travel data.”

It added: “The departure of 113,234 citizens has been recorded from the beginning of the year to date, through the Ministry of Interior’s statements and coordination statements, while the arrival of 116,651 citizens has been recorded.”

The Crossings Authority indicated that the appearance of pictures of citizens waiting in the office to obtain a Turkish visa is related to what happened recently, which limited the issuance of the visa to one party and through only one office in the Gaza Strip, after that was available through all travel offices in all governorates over over the past years. According to her statement.

It emphasized the natural right of citizens to travel and move to meet their various needs, pointing out the suffering of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip for many years of their inability to travel due to the unstable operation of the crossings.

It pointed out that the vast majority of those registered to travel fall within the framework of humanitarian cases such as treatment, scholarships, obtaining job opportunities, visiting relatives or citizens residing abroad, or commercial purposes.

The Crossings and Borders Authority warned against circulating incorrect numbers and statistics regarding the number of travelers or those registered to travel, and mistakenly assuming - inadvertently or intentionally - that everyone who traveled had left the Gaza Strip.