All eyes on Rafah crossing as Israel permits limited travel to resume

Will Monday be the day when Gazans can go through the Rafah crossing, wanting desperately to leave – or return to – their homes?

Gaza's Rafah border crossing with Egypt showed signs of activity on Sunday as Israel said that limited travel to and from the territory was set to resume Monday after years of near-complete isolation. 

Reopening the border crossing is a key step as the Israel-Hamas ceasefire moves ahead.

Israel announced Sunday the crossing had opened in a test. COGAT, the Israeli military agency that controls Gazan aid, said the crossing was actively being prepared for fuller operation, adding that residents of Gaza would begin to pass through the crossing Monday.

It came a day after Israeli strikes killed at least 30 Palestinians including several children, according to hospital officials. The strikes inflicted one of the highest death tolls since the October ceasefire began. The previous day, Israel accused Hamas of new truce violations.

Nicolay Mladenov, director-general of Trump's Board of Peace in Gaza, urged the parties to "exercise restraint and uphold the ceasefire." He said his office was working with the Palestinian committee chosen to oversee Gaza to "find ways that prevent future incidents."

What happens when the crossing reopens?

Rafah, which Palestinians see as their gateway to the world, has been largely shut since it was seized by Israel in May 2024.

Few people will be allowed at first, and no goods allowed to cross. About 20,000 Palestinian children and adults needing medical care are hoping to leave war-devastated Gaza via the crossing, and thousands of other Palestinians outside the territory hope to return home.

Zaher al-Wahidi, head of the Health Ministry's documentation department in Gaza, said the ministry hasn't yet been notified about the start of medical evacuations.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will allow 50 patients a day to leave. An official involved in the discussions, speaking on condition of anonymity, said each patient would be allowed to travel with two relatives, while 50 people who left Gaza during the war would be allowed to return each day.

Israel has said it and Egypt will vet people for exit and entry through the crossing, which will be supervised by EU border patrol agents. The number of travelers is expected to increase over time if the system is successful.

Medical bans 'will harm civilian population'  

Also Sunday, Israel's Diaspora Ministry said it was "moving to terminate" the operations of Doctors Without Borders in Gaza, saying they would be out of Gaza by the end of February.

It comes after Israel in December suspended the group's operations in Gaza because it refused to comply with new Israeli registration requirements, which demanded that organizations submit lists of local employees. The group said the new regulations could put their Palestinian staff in danger.

Doctors Without Borders is one of over two dozen humanitarian organizations Israel suspended from operating in the Gaza Strip because of failure or refusal to comply with the new requirements.

The Diaspora Ministry, which proposed the new rules, says they are aimed at preventing Hamas and other militant groups from infiltrating aid organizations. But the organizations say the rules are arbitrary and warned the bans would harm a civilian population desperately in need of humanitarian aid.

Independent NGOs play a major role in propping up Gaza's health sector, devastated by two years of Israeli bombardment and restrictions on supplies.

Doctors without Borders has said that Israel's decision will have a catastrophic impact on its work in Gaza, where it provides funding and international staff for six hospitals, as well as running two field hospitals and eight primary health centers, clinics and medical points. It also runs two of Gaza's five stabilization centers helping children with severe malnutrition.

Is the Rafah crossing reopening significant?

At the crossing on Sunday, Palestinian security officers passed through the crossing's Egyptian gate and headed toward the Palestinian gate to join an EU mission that will be supervising exit and entry, said an Egyptian official, who added that ambulances also crossed through the Egyptian gate.

The reopening is a key step as last year's US-brokered ceasefire agreement, which took effect on October 10, moves into its second phase.

Before the war, Rafah was the main crossing for people moving in and out of Gaza. Although Gaza has four other border crossings, they are shared with Israel.

Israeli troops seized and closed the Rafah crossing in May 2024, calling it part of efforts to combat Hamas arms smuggling. The crossing was briefly opened for the evacuation of medical patients during a ceasefire in early 2025.

Israel had resisted reopening the Rafah crossing, but the recovery of the remains of the last hostage in Gaza last week cleared the way to move forward.

Under the ceasefire terms, Israel's military controls the area between the Rafah crossing and the zone where most Palestinians live.

Fearing that Israeli could use the crossing to push Palestinians out of the enclave, Egypt has repeatedly said it must be open for both entry to and exit from Gaza. Historically, Israel and Egypt have vetted Palestinians applying to cross.

Ceasefire phases

The current ceasefire halted more than two years of war between Israel and Hamas that began with a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. 

The truce's first phase called for the exchange of all hostages held in Gaza for hundreds of Palestinians held by Israel, an increase in badly needed humanitarian aid and a partial pullback of Israeli troops.

The second phase is more complicated. It calls for installing a new Palestinian committee to govern Gaza, deploying an international security force, disarming Hamas, and taking steps to begin rebuilding.