  This paper is devoted to the characterization of the energy release rate of a
crack which is merely closed, connected, and with density $1/2$ at the tip.
First, the blow-up limit of the displacement is analyzed, and the convergence
to the corresponding positively $1/2$-homogenous function in the cracked plane
is established. Then, the energy release rate is obtained as the derivative of
the elastic energy with respect to an infinitesimal additional crack increment.
