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Israel has announced it will open the main Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt in the coming days to allow Palestinians to leave the territory.
Israel’s military agency Cogat said it would “facilitate the withdrawal through coordination with Egypt, subject to Israeli security approval and under the supervision of the EU delegation”. It added that this would be “similar to the mechanism that operated in January” when the crossing was open during the last ceasefire.
An Israeli security official said it was an expression of Israel’s support for the current ceasefire with Hamas that began seven weeks ago.
However, Egypt denies that it is coordinating with Israel to reopen the Rafah crossing.
“If an agreement is reached to open the crossing, it will allow two-way access to and from the Gaza Strip, in line with U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan,” the National Information Service said, citing an Egyptian official source.
Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan “The opening of the Rafah crossing in both directions will follow the same mechanisms implemented under the January ceasefire agreement,” the statement said.
The crossing has been mostly closed since the Palestinian side was occupied by Israeli forces in May 2024. Until then, it was the main exit point Palestinians were allowed to leave during the conflict and a key entry point for humanitarian aid.
According to the World Health Organization, at least 16,500 seriously ill or injured Palestinians who require life-saving medical treatment abroad are currently awaiting evacuation from Gaza. It is said that only 235 patients, almost all of them children, have been evacuated across the Israeli border since the ceasefire came into effect.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Palestinian Authority (PA) forces will assist with the reopened Rafah crossing along with the EU Border Assistance Mission.
The report quoted European sources as saying that Palestinian representatives had also helped during previous ceasefires but did not wear Palestinian Authority insignia due to “Israeli sensitivities about their presence in Gaza.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out any role for the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the occupied West Bank, in the future governance of the territory.
Haaretz also reported that Netanyahu has so far blocked the reopening of the Rafah crossing due to the delay in the return of the bodies of hostages held by Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza.
According to the first phase of the ceasefire agreement that took effect on October 10, Hamas agreed to return within 72 hours the 20 living Israeli hostages still in Gaza and the bodies of 28 dead Israeli and foreign hostages.
On 13 October, all living hostages were released in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 detainees from Gaza.
The remains of 23 Israeli hostage victims have been handed over so far, along with three other hostages – one Thai, one Nepali and one Tanzanian. In exchange, Israel handed over the bodies of 345 Palestinians killed in the war.
One of the remaining dead hostages is an Israeli, 24-year-old Ran Gvili, and the other is a Thai, 43-year-old Suthisak Rintalak.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said on Wednesday morning that forensic tests showed that the remains handed over by Hamas in Gaza the previous day did not belong to the two men.
On Wednesday afternoon, the military wing of Hamas-ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad said it had found the body of a hostage in northern Gaza. The bodies will later be transferred to Israeli forces via the Red Cross, according to Hamas’ military wing.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas and its allies kidnapped 251 people, including two dead hostages still in Gaza, and about 1,200 people were killed at that time.
Israel launched military operations into Gaza in response to the attack, which killed more than 70,100 people, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry.
