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For Palestinians in Gaza, the Rafah border crossing to Egypt is their gateway to the world. But since Israel seized it in May 2024, it has been mostly closed.
Now Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the crossing will soon reopen as the Israeli-Hamas ceasefire plan moves into its second phase.
It raises hope for thousands of war-wounded Palestinians seeking to travel abroad for medical care and for tens of thousands of people outside Gaza who want to return home.
“Everyone in Gaza, from families with children awaiting urgent medical evacuation, to students on scholarships abroad and others separated from their families, they are all desperate to see what happens to the Rafah border crossing,” Alexandra Saieh, head of global strategic impact and policy at the aid organization Save the Children, told CBC News.
But those hoping to cross will face strict controls. Under the terms set by Netanyahu, only dozens of Palestinians will be allowed through the crossing each day, and no goods will pass through for the time being. All other Gaza border crossings are with Israel.
An Israeli official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in line with policy said the Rafah crossing would be opened in the coming days. A person familiar with the reopening discussions said they were told it could come as early as Thursday.
Ali Shaath, the newly appointed head of the Palestinian Administrative Committee that runs daily affairs in Gaza, said on January 22 that the crossing would “open next week in both directions.”
“The opening of Rafah signals that Gaza is no longer closed to the future and to the world,” he said in a video released by the White House on X last week.
Humanitarian organizations call for greater access to basic goods
Preparations are underway for a limited number of medical evacuees to be released from Gaza first.
There are conflicting reports on how many people can cross each day. An Israeli official said 50 Palestinians would be allowed to enter and 50 to leave per day. A person familiar with the discussions said 50 would be allowed in daily and 150 outside.
That means a long wait for many of the estimated 20,000 sick and wounded who the territory’s health ministry says need treatment outside Gaza, where Israeli strikes have devastated the health system.
At a rate of 50 evacuations per day, it would take more than a year for each of those 20,000 to leave.
One particular rule is banning Palestinian students who have already been accepted to Canadian universities from entering the country.
Saieh told CBC News that Israel’s plan to control who comes in and out is “incredibly worrying” but “not surprising,” and Save the Children is calling on the Israeli government to allow unfettered access.
He says he hopes the opening will also allow for an increase in desperately needed humanitarian aid, from basic medical aid to basic shelter supplies. Palestinians have also long reported severe shortages of fuel and other basic necessities.
Save the Children is also calling for the opening of a medical corridor between Gaza and East Jerusalem, where hospitals could receive people in need of medical evacuation.
“The opening of Rafah should be unconditional,” Saieh said. “People should have the right to freedom of movement, and unfortunately that has been stolen from the Palestinians in Gaza.”
Meanwhile, at least 30,000 Palestinians have applied to the Palestinian embassy in Cairo to return to Gaza, according to an embassy official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the details of the reopening are still being discussed.
The United Nations wants the crossing to be open to “humanitarian and private sector cargo, which is critical to the economic recovery of Gaza,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Wednesday.
The UN’s deputy Middle East coordinator, Ramiz Alakbarov, told a UN Security Council meeting that aid workers were facing “delays and denial of cargo at crossings and limited routes available to transport supplies inside Gaza”.
Multiple countries, institutions involved
A complex network of countries and institutions will monitor the Rafah crossing, but Israel has control over who enters and exits.
Egypt will submit a list of names to Israel daily for verification and decision, an Israeli official said.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, the Israeli army controls the area between the Rafah crossing and the zone where most Palestinians live. COGAT, the Israeli military body tasked with coordinating aid to Gaza, will bus Palestinians to and from the crossing, the official said.
There will be no Israeli soldiers at the crossing, the official said, but Palestinians exiting and entering will go through an Israeli security check inside Gaza. In the past, such inspections were carried out by the Israeli military and private American companies.
Andrew Chang explains what $1 billion buys members of Trump’s new Peace Committee. Images courtesy of The Canadian Press, Reuters and Getty Images
“Everyone who enters or leaves is subject to our screening, a full screening,” Netanyahu said on Tuesday.
Officials from the EU Border Assistance Mission and the Palestinian Authority will monitor the crossing.
Plainclothes Palestinian Authority officials will stamp passports, as they did during a brief truce in early 2025 and before Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007, Palestinian officials told The Associated Press.
Crucifixion has long been a subject of controversy
Even before the war, Palestinians faced severe restrictions in the Rafah.
Egypt, along with Israel, imposed a blockade after Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007. It reopened the crossing after Egypt’s 2011 revolution, but closed it in 2013 after the military ousted President Mohammed Morsi, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement from which Hamas emerged.
Egypt gradually allowed the Rafah crossing to reopen in the years that followed, but the on-and-off restrictions led to a vast tunnel economy emerging beneath it.
The tunnels served as an economic lifeline for Gaza and a conduit for weapons and money, according to Israeli and Egyptian officials. Hamas collected taxes and duties on goods passing through the crossing.
Netanyahu said his focus was on disarming Hamas, a challenging part of the second phase of the US-brokered ceasefire, and destroying its remaining tunnels. He said there would be no reconstruction in Gaza without demilitarization, a position that could make Israeli control of the Rafah crossing a key point of influence.
