After almost two years of inactivity due to the closure imposed by Israel, a first group of Palestinians arrived this Monday morning on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, which connects with Gaza, to begin preparations for returning to the Strip. , citing an official source, on the first day of reopening the border crossing, 50 people are expected to return to the Palestinian enclave. Likewise, at least 50 others are expected to cross into Egypt to receive urgent medical care, according to Egyptian state television, which stated that the first patients will be transferred from hospitals in the city of Khan Younis, in southern Gaza.
The Egyptian Ministry of Health has reinforced the deployment of ambulances at the pass to refer patients to hospital centers in North Sinai, the governorate bordering Gaza.
The Rafah border crossing began rehearsing its operational mechanisms this Sunday in preparation for its formal reopening. The reactivation of transit through Rafah, interrupted since the Israeli army occupied the Palestinian side of the facility in May 2024, in the longest closure in almost 20 years, constitutes one of the key elements of the . But for now it is considered a rather symbolic measure, since Israel will only allow the movement of a very small number of Palestinians.
Israel’s military body that manages civil affairs in the occupied territories, COGAT, announced on Friday that permission will be given to a “limited movement of people,” and advanced that exit and entry into Gaza will continue to be subject to a security clearance. On the ground, Palestinian Authority (PA) officials are expected to be present on the Gaza side of the border crossing, but they will be supervised by a European Union assistance mission, EUBAM, which is expected to act as an intermediary between Egypt and Israel, which will coordinate the operation of the crossing, thus minimizing the Palestinian role.
Initially, it is expected that wounded and sick Palestinians in need of urgent medical assistance will be allowed to leave Gaza, estimated by the UN to be around 20,000, while COGAT assured that only residents who left the Strip during the war, estimated to be around almost 100,000, will be allowed to return.
In the case of those returning to Gaza, COGAT noted that, in addition to the identification and initial check that EUBAM will carry out at the Rafah crossing, the Israeli army will also subject them to a security check at a military inspection post established in an area near the border within the strip.
For now, it is unclear what kind of additional checks will be carried out or what will happen if soldiers decide to prevent anyone who has entered. Israeli media have also reported that the army will remotely control those leaving Gaza through a computer system installed at the border crossing.
Israel’s restrictions on the Rafah crossing, which is only expected to open for a few hours each day and will not leave, have been interpreted as a way to implement a key part of the truce agreement brokered by US President Donald Trump, without having to renounce its tight blockade on the strip.
Furthermore, Israeli authorities appear determined to continue allowing more Palestinians to leave the territory than they allow to return, a move that worries Egypt, which fears it will be used to further alter the enclave’s demographics. Israel is also not expected to allow foreign journalists access to Gaza even when Rafah reopens.
Despite these limitations, Egypt has been preparing in recent days to receive new Palestinian patients once the crossing reopens. The governor of the province of North Sinai, bordering Gaza, General Khaled Maghawer, declared this week that the emergency level has been raised in four hospitals in the region, where preparations have been accelerated to care for the sick and wounded. The country’s Ministry of Health has also reinforced the presence of ambulances at the Rafah crossing to facilitate the transfer of arriving patients and has reactivated a medical care point inside the crossing.
