Gaza (TDI): Israel reopened Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt for pedestrian movement on Monday, allowing a limited number of Palestinians to exit the territory and enabling others who had fled during the war to return.
The reopening comes with strict conditions. Israeli authorities have insisted on security screening for all travelers, while both Israel and Egypt are expected to enforce daily limits on how many people can pass through the crossing.
Israel had taken control of Rafah in May 2024, roughly nine months after the Gaza conflict erupted. The fighting was later paused by an October ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump. Reopening the crossing was a key demand during the first phase of Trump’s broader initiative aimed at ending hostilities between Israel and Hamas.
During the early months of the war, launched after Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, Palestinians were generally able to escape to Egypt through Rafah. Palestinian authorities estimate that around 100,000 people left Gaza during the conflict, most within the first nine months. Some departures were facilitated by aid organizations, while others involved payments to intermediaries in Egypt to secure exit permits.
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Israel later shut down Rafah after launching a ground operation in the area and also sealed the Philadelphi Corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt. The closures effectively cut off one of the few routes for wounded and critically ill Palestinians seeking medical treatment abroad.
Although Israel has permitted several thousand patients to leave Gaza via its own territory over the past year, the United Nations says many more remain in urgent need of care outside the enclave.
Despite the reopening of Rafah, Israel continues to bar foreign journalists from entering Gaza, a ban that has been in place since the start of the war. The restriction has drawn criticism amid the widespread destruction across the territory, where nearly two million Palestinians are now living in tents or heavily damaged buildings.
Israel’s Supreme Court is currently reviewing a petition filed by the Foreign Press Association, which argues that journalists should be allowed access to Gaza. Government lawyers maintain that such access could endanger Israeli troops and pose serious risks to reporters. The FPA has rejected those claims, saying the public is being denied independent coverage, especially since aid workers and United Nations personnel have been allowed into Gaza throughout the conflict.
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Trump’s Gaza plan, now entering its second phase, envisions the territory being governed by Palestinian technocrats, Hamas disarming, Israeli forces withdrawing, and large-scale reconstruction beginning. Israeli officials, however, have expressed skepticism that Hamas will surrender its weapons, with some warning that preparations for renewed fighting are underway.
