Tens of thousands of Israelis crossed the border to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula ahead of the Passover holiday this week, seeking a non-traditional break and defying government warnings that signaled a high-level of terror attacks.
Ahead of the week-long annual Jewish festival that ironically commemorates the Jewish Exodus from ancient Egypt and the liberation of the Jewish people from slavery, figures from the Israel Airports Authority estimated that over 85,000 people will pass through the Taba border in both directions over the holiday period this year.
Prioritizing hedonism over security concerns, this would amount to 40,000 vacationing in Sinai this year which is an increase of 20% on the year before, Globes reported.
Israel's Counter-Terrorism Bureau in the National Security Council warned that those planning to head to the volatile region that there was a "serious threat of the perpetration of terrorist attacks against Sinai tourists, including Israelis."
Repeating its call, the bureau urged Israelis who were currently there to "leave the area immediately and return to Israel" and "strongly recommends that all those wishing to go to Sinai refrain from doing so."
However, these comments are merely cautionary and are not legally binding.
Despite the strongly-worded comment, Israeli media reported on Monday that more than 23,000 Israelis had already crossed the Taba border this week, with more likely to head to the popular, sunny beach destination as the Passover holiday draws to a close at the end of the week.
The Sinai is massively popular amongst Israelis for its geographically-convenient location, miles-long stretches of untouched beaches, crystal clear waters famed for snorkeling and diving, as well as for its laid-back Bedouin-run camps that offer cheap accommodation and fair-priced food.
However, with so many Israelis passing through the border at the same time, their holiday began with a far less relaxing beginning.
In a Channel 12 report aired on Sunday night, one traveler said she had been waiting on the Egyptian side of the border for over three hours, waiting for a taxi driver to escort her to her accommodation.
"It is crazy packed here," she said, "I'm sure there are more people here than at the exodus from Egypt," she added, in reference to the Passover story.
In a rare move during the Passover holiday in 2017, the High Court decided to shutter the Taba border crossing for the duration of the holiday forcing angry citizens to abandon their vacation plans. This was triggered by a security assessment indicating immediate threats to tourists posed by Islamic State-affiliated jihadists who have been battling the Egyptian army and waging a bloody insurgency since the 2013 military overthrow of Egypt's form Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
Prior to Israel's withdrawing from the Sinai in 1982, the crossing had been shuttered in 2014 following a terror attack on the Egyptian side of the border and in 2011, when an Israeli security assessment again deemed it as unsafe.
In 2004, there were three bombing attacks target tourists in the Sinai killed 34 including 12 Israelis.
In 2005, the Sharm el-Sheikh suicide attack killed 88, including one Israeli.
Since February 2018, the Egyptian military has launched a sweeping operation focused on the Sinai in eastern Egypt aimed at wiping out the jihadists, that has been largely viewed as successful.
This article was originally published by i24NEWS. Read more at https://www.i24news.tv/en.
