Summary-expanded
For Palestinians in Gaza, the Rafah border crossing to Egypt is a long-standing gateway to the outside world, but it has been largely shut since Israel seized control of it in May 2024. As a U.S.-brokered Israel-Hamas ceasefire plan moves into what U.S. officials have described as its second phase, Netanyahu has said Rafah could reopen soon, raising hopes for medical evacuation and for people outside Gaza seeking to return. At the same time, officials and people familiar with the discussions say the opening would come with tight limits on who can cross and with further uncertainty over goods and aid access.
An Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Rafah would open in the coming days. A person familiar with discussions on the reopening said the crossing could come as early as Thursday. Ali Shaath, newly appointed to head the Palestinian administrative committee that governs Gaza’s daily affairs, also said on Jan. 22 that Rafah would “open next week in both directions,” and Shaath said in a White House video posted on X last week that “Opening Rafah signals Gaza is no longer closed to the future and to the world.”
Preparations are set to let a limited number of medical evacuees leave Gaza first, a shift from earlier in the war when most people exited through Israel, according to World Health Organization data cited by AP. The planning underscores the scale of potential need: the Gaza health ministry estimates about 20,000 sick and wounded people require treatment outside Gaza. But at reported daily caps, the timeline for evacuating everyone would be long.
The daily numbers reported by two sources differ. The Israeli official said 50 Palestinians would be allowed in and 50 out each day. The person familiar with the discussions said 50 would be allowed in daily but 150 would be allowed out. The sources also described how evacuees would travel: medical evacuees typically exit with escorts, and the person familiar with the discussions said two escorts likely would be allowed for each evacuee.
Registration for return also appears to be growing. At least 30,000 Palestinians have registered with the Palestinian Embassy in Cairo for return to Gaza, an embassy official said on condition of anonymity because details of the reopening were still under discussion. Beyond these categories, the sources said Israel would vet travelers under the ceasefire terms, limiting crossings to tightly controlled groups rather than allowing broad movement immediately. This story follows earlier AP reporting on Rafah’s reopening in a limited step of the ceasefire; MSI previously reported that Rafah crossing reopens in a limited step of Gaza ceasefire.
Israel is expected to have the decisive role in who can enter and leave. AP reported that Egypt would give Israel a daily list of names to vet and decide on. Under the ceasefire terms, Israel’s military controls the area between the Rafah crossing and where most Palestinians live, and COGAT—the Israeli military body that coordinates aid to Gaza—will bus Palestinians to and from the crossing, according to the Israeli official.
The sources said there would be no Israeli soldiers stationed at the crossing itself, but Palestinians exiting and entering would undergo Israeli security screening inside Gaza. In the past, AP said, screenings have been carried out by Israeli soldiers and private U.S. contractors. Netanyahu described the screening process on Tuesday, saying, “Anyone entering or exiting undergoes our inspection, a full inspection.”
In addition to Israel and Egypt, the crossing would involve other entities in day-to-day operations. Officers from the European Union Border Assistance Mission and the Palestinian Authority would run the crossing, and plainclothes Palestinian Authority officers would stamp passports, according to Palestinian officials who spoke to AP. Netanyahu also suggested that members of Palestinian factions that historically governed Gaza could play a role, saying the majority of bureaucrats had a history of working for Hamas or the Palestinian Authority.
Even before the war, AP said Palestinians faced heavy restrictions at Rafah. The United Nations recorded more than 133,000 entries and 144,000 exits through Rafah in 2022, though many involved the same people crossing multiple times. AP reported that Egyptian authorities allowed imports on 150 days of the year, and that more than 32,000 trucks of goods entered, while the crossing’s reopening after Egypt’s 2011 revolution was later followed by closures linked to political changes, including the 2013 ouster of President Mohamed Morsi.
AP said restrictions have been shaped by the region’s politics, including an Egyptian blockade and later on-and-off openings following Hamas’s takeover of Gaza in 2007. The shifting control contributed to an underground tunnel economy that Israeli and Egyptian officials said served as both an economic lifeline and a conduit for weapons and cash, while Hamas collected tens of millions of dollars a month in taxes and customs related to goods passing through the crossing.
Uncertainty remains about how Rafah will function in the ceasefire’s second phase. AP said it is not clear when trucks will be allowed to pass through, what Palestinians will be permitted to bring, and whether daily entries and exits will be capped at or below 200. Those questions are crucial for humanitarian groups seeking to surge aid into Gaza, where organizations have reported shortages of medical supplies, fuel and other essentials. The United Nations wants the crossing open for “both humanitarian cargo and private sector cargo, which is critically important for reviving the economy in Gaza,” U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Wednesday, and the U.N.’s deputy Middle East coordinator, Ramiz Alakbarov, told a Security Council meeting that humanitarian workers face “delays and denials of cargo at crossings and limited routes available for transporting supplies within Gaza.”