Israel re-opened the Taba border crossing with Egypt on Friday, 11 days after closing it over serious security concerns. Transportation and Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz had ordered the crossing be closed on the eve of the Passover holiday, after learning that some 20,000 Israelis planned to cross over to Sinai for the holiday despite a Counterterrorism Bureau warning of an imminent threat to Israelis visiting the area. The advisory also urged Israelis already in Sinai to leave the area immediately. The travel advisory, originally issued in late march, was re-issued in the wake of an Islamic State terrorist attacks on two Coptic churches in the northern Egyptian cities of Tanta and Alexandria, which left 44 dead and 126 wounded. Katz's directive originally said the crossing was to be re-opened on April 18, but an Islamic State attack that day on a police checkpoint outside St. Catherine's Monastery in southern Sinai resulted in the Taba crossing remaining closed for a few more days. The Counterterrorism Bureau reiterated Saturday that its travel warning remained in effect and that the threat to Israeli tourists in Sinai was "severe, concrete, and imminent."
