The Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing along the Egypt-Gaza border will be operated 24 hours a day as of mid-September, the official MENA news agency reported on Tuesday.

Coordination on the crossing's operation was under way recently among Egyptian, Palestinian and Israeli officials, a reliable source was quoted as saying.

Egypt has ordered the border authority to work harder on the facilitation of cross-border trade and encourage tourists to use the Rafah crossing after the Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip, said the source.

The Rafah crossing, also known as the Philadelphi corridor, straddles the border between Egypt and Gaza and it is the only land route for 1.4 million Gaza Palestinians to travel abroad.

Under the Israeli control, it was often shut off for security reasons.

Israel has been concerned about weapon smuggling into Gaza from Egypt through the border after Israeli forces pull out of the strip.

Even before the start of the Gaza pullout, Israel has been in talks with Egypt to deploy 750 Egyptian border guards along the 12 km border.

Israeli media reported Tuesday that Israel and Egypt have completed the last details concerning the deployment of Egyptian guards.

Meanwhile, a delegation of embassy diplomats of the European Union and the United States in Cairo visited the crossing and toured the international border area to look at the preparations for deployment of Egyptian border guards.

Israel has completed the evacuation in all the 21 Gaza settlements and four in the West Bank on Tuesday, two weeks ahead of schedule.

(Xinhua News Agency August 24, 2005)