Gaza’s Rafah crossing set to reopen Saturday, to be run by PA with EU monitors

Officials say crossing will initially be opened for 50 injured Hamas operatives and 50 wounded civilians

The flag of Egypt sways in the wind on the Egyptian side of the Rafah Border Crossing with the Gaza Strip on September 9, 2024. (AFP)
The flag of Egypt sways in the wind on the Egyptian side of the Rafah Border Crossing with the Gaza Strip on September 9, 2024. (AFP)

Gaza’s Rafah Border Crossing with Egypt is set to reopen Saturday under the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. It will be run by Palestinian Authority representatives alongside monitors from the European Union, according to officials familiar with the discussions.

“The mediators informed Hamas of Israel’s approval to open Rafah crossing tomorrow, Saturday, after the completion of the fourth batch of prisoner exchange,” a Hamas official told AFP.

The source explained that injured Palestinians would be evacuated through the crossing, “as per the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release agreement.”

The Rafah Crossing with Egypt was one of the main entry points into the Gaza Strip and a vital conduit for aid, but the border has been closed since Israeli forces seized it in May last year, largely due to Egyptian refusal to keep the passage open so long as Israeli forces held it.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Friday that the 27-member bloc had deployed a monitoring mission at the crossing “at the request of the Palestinians and the Israelis.”

“It will support Palestinian border personnel and allow the transfer of individuals out of Gaza, including those who need medical care,” she wrote on X.

IDF troops on the Gazan side of the Rafah border crossing on May 7, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Egyptian security sources confirmed that members of the EU team had arrived at the facility.

The crossing will now be run by members of the Palestinian Authority and European monitors, PA and Hamas officials said.

People will only be allowed to travel in one direction, from Gaza to Egypt, for the time being, officials said.

It will be opened initially for 50 injured Hamas operatives and 50 wounded civilians, along with the people escorting them, the officials said, adding that a further 100 people, most likely students, would be allowed through on humanitarian grounds.

Gaza’s health ministry said the transportation of patients from two hospitals in the north and south of the enclave would be coordinated with the World Health Organization.

View of the Rafah Border Crossing in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on July 15, 2024 in a photo taken under the supervision of the Israel Defense Forces. (Oren Cohen/Flash90)

A civilian EU mission to help monitor the Rafah Crossing began work there in 2005 but was suspended in June 2007 after Hamas violently took over the Gaza Strip from Fatah, which controls the PA.

In standby mode thereafter, the mission had maintained 10 international and eight local staff.

Spain, Italy and France are now contributing personnel to the renewed mission.

The Spanish contingent comprises eight security specialists and two agents assigned to the border management team, joining two Spanish members of the mission already deployed there, the foreign and interior ministries in Madrid said.

People walk past trucks loaded with aid waiting to cross into Gaza from the Egyptian side of the Rafah Border Crossing on January 19, 2025. (Khaled Desouki/AFP)

France said it had deployed three gendarmes specialized in border policing on Friday as part of the EU mission, while Italy said it had sent seven paramilitary Carabinieri officers to join two Italians already at the Rafah mission.

German ministries are also discussing sending a contingent.

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