Egypt closes Rafah crossing after deadly attack in North Sinai

Egypt closed its Rafah border crossing in Sinai on Monday after a deadly attack nearby that killed 24 policeman, a border official has said.

The crossing is the only way most Palestinians in Gaza can leave the territory.

Last week, Egypt said it would close the crossing indefinitely, but it was partially reopened on Saturday, according to the Hamas-run interior ministry in Gaza, AFP news agency reported.

At least 24 Egyptian policemen were killed in an attack on Monday near Rafah.

Militants targeted the police, firing rocket-propelled grenades at two buses travelling from the town of Rafah on the Egyptian side of the border with Gaza, security and medical security told AFP.

It was the deadliest attack of its kind in years, with the toll exceeding even that of an August 2012 attack on Egyptian troops in the Sinai Peninsula that killed 16 soldiers, according to AFP.

Reuters news agency reported that the blast wounded three other policemen.

Rafah sits along the border with the Palestinian Gaza Strip, in the north of Sinai, where attacks by Islamist militants in the lawless region have intensified since the army overthrew Islamist President Mohammad Mursi on July 3.