The Rafah Border Crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip officially resumed operations on Monday for the first time in almost a year, an Israeli security official said, in a move hailed by Palestinians and international organizations as a milestone in the ceasefire.

Rafah, which Palestinians see as their gateway to the world, has been largely shut since it was captured by Israel in May 2024. The crossing was closed last March with the collapse of a ceasefire signed in January 2025. About 20,000 Palestinians 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.

The move is currently largely a symbolic development on the ground as few people will be allowed to travel in either direction. Nevertheless, Palestinians seeking to leave and enter Gaza, and European monitoring teams began arriving on Monday morning at the facility.

The crossing is expected be open for about six hours daily, according to Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan.

The crossing was open only for the passage of Gazan Palestinian pedestrians. Foreigners, including aid workers, who seek to enter Gaza can only do so via Israel’s crossings with the Strip. Goods and aid will continue to go through the Israeli crossings. Israel is also still refusing to allow the unsupervised entry of foreign journalists into Gaza.

Only Palestinians who left Gaza during the war were to be permitted to return to the Strip, Israeli authorities said. According to data from Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, some 42,000 Gazans left the Strip during the war, the vast majority of them patients seeking medical treatment abroad or dual citizens.

A US official and an Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel on Monday that the members of the Palestinian technocratic committee were aiming to enter in the Strip via the Rafah crossing next week

The 12-member National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), tasked with managing the daily affairs of postwar Gaza in place of Hamas, has been holding meetings in Cairo after it was unveiled last month.

All of its members are originally from Gaza, though some have been residing outside of the Strip in recent years.

A third source........

© The Times of Israel