Palestinians have begun passing through the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt after it reopened for people to travel. The crossing had mostly been shut since May 2024 when Israeli forces took control of the Gaza side.
The reopening was expected earlier during the first stage of a ceasefire plan proposed by US President Donald Trump between Israel and Hamas which started in October. However Israel delayed the move until the body of the final Israeli hostage held in Gaza was returned last week. Many Palestinians see the crossing as a vital link to the outside world so its reopening has brought relief. At the same time there is frustration because only a limited number of people are allowed to cross and no goods can pass through.
Around twenty thousand sick and injured Palestinians are waiting to leave Gaza for medical care according to local hospitals and the World Health Organisation. Israeli reports say only fifty patients will be allowed to leave each day. Each patient may be accompanied by one or two relatives. The same number of people who left Gaza during the war will be allowed to return.
The crossing will be managed by European Union supervisors and local Palestinian workers. Israel will conduct security checks from a distance. On Monday morning an Israeli security official said the Rafah crossing had opened for residents to enter and exit after teams from the European Union Border Assistance Mission arrived. Al Qahera News TV which is linked to Egyptian intelligence said the crossing received the first group of Palestinians returning from Egypt to Gaza. The channel said this move was part of Egyptian efforts to ease movement.
A Palestinian mother named Sabrine al Dama said she hopes to travel abroad with her sixteen year old daughter Rawa who has kidney disease. She plans to donate one of her kidneys to her daughter. She said her daughter used to receive regular medical checks and scans. Since the war began food shortages and poor nutrition made her condition worse and she now needs dialysis. She said they hope approval will come quickly because her daughter is very tired. She added that she is forty five years old and worries she may soon be too old to donate which is why they are rushing.
On Sunday Israeli authorities said a test opening of the crossing was carried out and completed. A Palestinian official familiar with the trial told the BBC that about thirty Palestinian staff members arrived on the Egyptian side ahead of the first operating phase. The World Health Organisation will oversee the transfer of patients from areas controlled by Hamas. Patients will be taken by bus to the crossing and moved into areas controlled by the Israeli military.
A Gaza peace plan proposed by Donald Trump says reopening the Rafah crossing in both directions will follow the same system used in a ceasefire deal last January. Before Israel took control in 2024 the crossing was the main exit point for Palestinians during the war and a key entry point for aid. Aid from Egypt now enters Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing. In December the Israeli government said Rafah would open to allow Palestinians to leave Gaza. Egypt responded that it would only open if travel was allowed both ways.
More than thirty thousand Gazans have registered with the Palestinian embassy in Cairo hoping to return to Gaza. The opening was delayed because Israel required Hamas to return the body of the last Israeli hostage in Gaza. Last week the Israeli military said it recovered the remains of police officer Master Sergeant Ran Gvili from a cemetery in northern Gaza.
He was one of two hundred fifty one people taken during the Hamas led attack on Israel on seven October two thousand twenty three which killed about twelve hundred people. Israel military response in Gaza has killed more than seventy one thousand seven hundred ninety Palestinians according to Gaza health authorities.
