Egypt will revert to entry rules for Palestinians in place before the blockade was imposed in 2007.
Egyptian authorities will now open the border from '9am to 5pm on a daily basis, except for Fridays and public holidays' starting Saturday May 28, the official MENA news agency said.
‘Palestinian women of all ages will be exempted from visas as will men under 18 or over 40,’ MENA said.
The exemption also applies to Palestinians entering Egypt for study as long as they have proof of affiliation to an Egyptian university, MENA said.
Although Egypt had been gradually easing restrictions on the Gaza border - it had been operating five days a week - Palestinians needed to coordinate with security authorities before entering Egypt.
The Rafah border with Egypt is Gaza's only crossing that bypasses Israel.
Meanwhilem Palestinian officials have dismissed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to the US Congress, in which he rejected US President Barack Obama's call for a peace deal based on pre-1967 borders, plus land swaps.
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said the speech proved Israel could not be a partner for peace in the region.
Mr Erekat said Mr Netanyahu was seeking to ‘dictate the results’ of negotiations before they had begun.
Mr Netanyahu had told US Congress that Israel was ‘willing to make painful compromises’ to achieve peace.
In his speech to a rare joint session of the US Congress, the Israeli leader broke no substantial new ground in his positions.
Mr Netanyahu also ruled out any return to talks as long as the unity deal between Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and the Islamist movement Hamas holds, calling the Palestinians' refusal to recognise Israel as a Jewish state the real stumbling block to peace.
‘In any peace agreement that ends the conflict, some settlements will end up beyond Israel's borders,’ he said.
‘We will be very generous on the size of a future Palestinian state.’
But Mr Netanyahu, whose speech was frequently punctuated by warm applause and at least 20 standing ovations from the US lawmakers, again ruled out any return to the borders that existed before the Six-Day War or dividing the holy city of Jerusalem.
The Palestinians demand east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.
‘Jerusalem must never again be divided. Jerusalem must remain the united capital of Israel,’ Mr Netanyahu said.
