Egypt opened the Rafah border crossing on Saturday for two days to let Palestinians travel in and out of the Gaza Strip, home to more than 1.8 million people.. The crossing is usually closed, with the government of Egytpian leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi — who took power after a military coup in 2013 — cooperating closely with the state of Israel to enforce the siege on Gaza, which has led to malnutrition in the Palestinian territory that some human rights groups now term "an open-air prison."