After being closed since May 2024, the Rafah crossing will likely soon reopen, allowing people to move between Gaza and Egypt again. The prospect gives Palestinians hope, but Israel will continue to impose restrictions.
Many Palestinians in the devastated Gaza Strip have been waiting for the opening of the Rafah crossing with Egypt at Gaza’s southern end. In the past, the crossing was Gaza’s lifeline to the outside world, an access point that wasn’t entirely controlled by Israel.
In May 2024, the Israeli military seized control of the crossing and closed the Gaza side of it, except for rare medical evacuations.
It is expected to reopen after Israel announced on Monday that the remains of the final deceased hostage in Gaza, Ran Gvili, had been recovered. This news is important to show people in Gaza that some progress is being made, Mustafa Ibrahim, a political analyst in Gaza City, told DW.
“The crossing needs to be opened so people feel change and transition,” Ibrahim said. “Israel still allows only limited aid trucks. People stranded outside Gaza want to return; thousands of wounded and sick desperately need to travel abroad for treatment.”
The reopening of the crossing is part of the next steps in the second phase of the US-brokered ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, the militant Islamist group that used to govern Gaza.
Closed territory with almost no way out
Although the opening of the crossing had been announced several times before (without coming to fruition), the news traveled quickly in Gaza. After more than two years of devastating war that, according to Hamas health authorities, killed more than 70,000 people in the Palestinian territory, it’s a welcome sign that there is some change. The small territory has been under a strict closure and people can’t freely decide when they want to leave or come back.
Israel launched large-scale attacks on Gaza after Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by the EU, the US and others, had crossed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages.
Now the planned opening of the Rafah crossing is giving people some hope.
“We want freedom of movement, both in and out [of the territory]. We want Palestinians who wish to return to be able to do so,” said Shaiman Rashwan, who was displaced during the war, in a phone interview with DW from Gaza City. “We want a normal life. These are the most basic rights of any people and any nation.”
Hamed Hamdi, a civil engineer who lost his home and now lives in a tent in Gaza City, said that the news had created a dilemma for him.
“Should I leave Gaza and go somewhere else just to save my children from living in tents, receiving an intermittent education and accessing healthcare that doesn’t even meet the most basic needs?” the 41-year-old Palestinian father asked in a phone call with DW. “Or should I stay here in my country to help rebuild it alongside other specialists and try to create hope from the rubble?”
An open Rafah still hard to pass through
Traveling through Rafah is no small feat. It hasn’t been easy in the past, and it appears to be complicated now, too.
It is unclear when the crossing will open or what the exact procedures will be. On Sunday evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office merely announced that Israel had agreed to reopen the crossing “for pedestrian passage only, subject to a full Israeli inspection mechanism.”
Hamas said in a statement on Monday that Israel must open the Rafah crossing in both directions “without restrictions.”
The head of the new Palestinian committee administering Gaza’s daily affairs, Ali Shaath, who is part of the new technocrat administration put in place by the US, said last week the crossing would be opened this week to facilitate movement to and from the enclave.
The committee members, who are currently in Egypt, are waiting to enter the territory, which they are expected to do on Thursday.
Opening Rafah crossing won’t be quick and easy
While details are still unclear, some sources in Gaza suggest that, initially, the reopening of the Rafah crossing could enable patients to leave for urgent medical treatment and allow students or individuals with dual citizenship to leave Gaza.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians who fled the war before the Israeli military took control of the crossing in May 2024 have made Egypt their temporary home. However, Egypt has opposed the permanent resettlement of Palestinian refugees in the country.
Opening the Rafah crossing won’t be easy. First, it needs to be rebuilt. Then comes the question of who will be in charge of it.
According to diplomatic sources, the crossing will operate under a temporary mechanism involving the Egyptian and Israeli authorities. The EU observer mission EUBAM Rafah, which was established in 2005, is also expected to be present. The role of Hamas, which still controls parts of Gaza, is unclear.
Travelers will reportedly need to submit their details to be included on a list coordinated by the Palestinian-Israeli Civil Liaison Committee, and they will require the approval of both Egypt and Israel to cross. Those returning to Gaza will reportedly have to submit to strict Israeli screening procedures and need an Israeli permit to return.
UN seeks clarity
According to diplomatic sources, the opening would also facilitate the entry of more humanitarian aid and commercial goods through the crossing, which are currently transferred mainly through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing.
On Monday, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that they were still “trying to get clarity on what exactly the Rafah opening means, how it will be implemented.
“What we want to see is humanitarian goods going in, cargo going in, both from the humanitarian community and private cargo,” Dujarric added.
Source : https://www.dw.com/en/israel-eyes-opening-rafah-crossing-gazas-gate-to-egypt/a-75685971
