After around a year, the crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip reopens – but only in a “trial operation”. What that means for the people there.
afp | According to Israeli information, the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip has been opened to a limited extent. The crossing was opened on Sunday “for the limited passage of residents” of the Gaza Strip, said Cogat, the Israeli authority responsible for civil affairs in the Palestinian territories. The opening of the border crossing, which has been closed since May 2024, is part of the Ceasefire agreement between Israel and the radical Islamic Palestinian organization Hamas.
Cogat explained that the opening of the border crossing on Sunday was a “first trial phase” that had been coordinated with the EU. Preparations are now being made for a full reopening. The border crossing in both directions will begin “after these preparations have been completed,” Cogat explained. This is planned for Monday, according to informed circles at the border crossing.
The opening of the Rafah border crossing is to be accompanied by the EU mission Eubam – in which up to 25 German security forces can take part in accordance with the Bundestag mandate. The civilian mission was set up in 2005 after Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. At the Rafah border crossing, officials from EU countries supported the Palestinian authorities with checks on people and goods. After the seizure of power by the radical Islamic Hamas in the Gaza Strip in 2007 the mission was suspended.
According to the Hamas health authority, around 200 patients were waiting on the Palestinian side of the border crossing on Sunday to leave the area. In addition, “around 40 Palestinians from the Palestinian Authority arrived on the Egyptian side of the border crossing to enter the Gaza Strip and start their work,” the AFP news agency learned from Palestinian authority circles.
At least 32 Palestinians killed over the weekend
Rafah is the only border crossing from the Gaza Strip that does not go through Israel and was previously used for many aid deliveries. The United Nations and international aid organizations had long called for the border crossing to be reopened, but more comprehensively than Israel had now announced.
A fragile ceasefire has been in effect in the Gaza Strip since October 10th between the Hamas and Israel. However, the two sides repeatedly accuse each other of violating the agreement. Israel insists on disarming Hamas and destroying the tunnel system used by the Islamists in the Palestinian territory.
According to Hamas, at least 32 people were killed in Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip on Saturday shortly before the Rafah border crossing was reopened. The Israeli army said it carried out the strikes in response to “Hamas violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
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