EU-monitored pedestrian crossing on Gaza-Egypt border to reopen next week

Italian defense minister says passage through Rafah crossing will be available to all, subject to Israel and Egypt’s approval

ROME, Italy — An EU mission at the Rafah border point between Gaza and Egypt will resume following the ceasefire, with the pedestrian crossing due to reopen on October 14, Italy said Friday.

The EUBAM monitoring mission is intended to provide a neutral, third-party presence at the key crossing and involves police from Italy, Spain and France. It was deployed in January during a previous ceasefire, but suspended in March.

In a statement, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said he had authorized the resumption of Italian operations within the EU mission for the reopening of the crossing under the same conditions as in January.

It follows the ceasefire agreed between Israel and Hamas under a truce and hostage-release deal proposed by US President Donald Trump.

“On October 14, 2025, in compliance with the Trump agreement, in coordination with the European Union and the parties, the Rafah crossing will be opened alternately in two directions, exiting towards Egypt and entering towards Gaza,” Crosetto said.

He said Israel was “working to restore the logistical functionality of the crossing’s infrastructure as quickly as possible.”

French gendarmerie soldiers of the EUBAM mission look at a map of Gaza at the Egyptian Red Crescent headquarters in Egypt’s northeastern city of Arish, in the north of the Sinai peninsula, about 55 kilometers west of the border with the Gaza Strip, on April 8, 2025. (Ludovic MARIN / POOL / AFP)

Crosetto also said that “approximately 600 trucks carrying humanitarian aid will flow into Gaza from other (non-Rafah) crossings every day.”

In January, the EU said the main objective of the mission was to coordinate and facilitate the daily transit of up to 300 wounded and sick people.

Crosetto said Friday: “The passage of personnel will not be limited to serious medical cases, but will be extended to anyone who wishes (subject to the mutual approval of Israel and Egypt).”

The EU set up the civilian mission in 2005 to help monitor the Rafah crossing, but it was suspended two years later after the Hamas terror group violently took control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority.

The Israel Defense Forces at noon Friday completed a withdrawal of its forces according to agreed-upon withdrawal lines in a ceasefire-hostage-release deal with Hamas, putting the truce into effect.

The hostages — some 20 living, at least 26 thought to be dead — are meant to come home within 72 hours of the completion of an agreed-upon withdrawal of the IDF.

The terror group has, in the past, told mediators it does not know where some of the bodies of slain hostages are located, which may delay the release of the bodies.

Israel is due to release 250 Palestinian security prisoners serving life sentences, plus another 1,700 Gazans imprisoned since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that launched the war.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.