RAFAH:&nbsp;Israel partially reopened the Rafah crossing between the devastated Gaza Strip and Egypt on Sunday following months of urging from humanitarian organizations, though access is limited to the movement of people. The reopening comes as violence continues despite a ceasefire in the Palestinian territory, with Gaza&#39;s civil defense agency reporting dozens killed in Israeli attacks on Saturday. The Israeli military said it was &lsquo;retaliating&rsquo; against violations of the truce. The Rafah crossing is a vital gateway for both civilians and aid, but it had remained closed since Israeli forces seized control of it in May 2024 during its warn in Gaza, aside from a brief and limited reopening in early 2025. COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry body coordinating Palestinian civilian affairs, said Sunday that the &quot;Rafah Crossing was opened today for the limited passage of residents only&quot;. An official at Gaza&#39;s health ministry, which operates under Hamas&rsquo;s authority, said that about 200 patients were waiting to be permitted to leave the territory once the crossing opened. Meanwhile, a group of &quot;around 40 Palestinians affiliated with the Palestinian Authority has arrived on the Egyptian side of the crossing to be allowed into Gaza and begin their work&quot;, a Palestinian official told AFP on condition of anonymity. Israel had previously said it would not reopen the crossing until the body of Ran Gvili &ndash; the last Israeli hostage held in Gaza &ndash; was returned. His remains were recovered days ago and he was laid to rest in Israel on Wednesday, with COGAT announcing the reopening two days later. Entry and exit &quot;will be permitted in coordination with Egypt, following prior security clearance of individuals by Israel, and under the supervision of the European Union mission&quot;, it said at the time. COGAT on Sunday described the reopening as &quot;an initial pilot phase&quot;, coordinated with the EU, adding the parties were carrying out &quot;preliminary preparations aimed at increasing readiness for full operation of the crossing&quot;. &quot;The actual passage of residents in both directions will begin upon completion of these preparations,&quot; it added. A wider reopening is scheduled for Monday, three sources at the crossing said. However, no agreement has yet been reached on the number of Palestinians permitted to enter or exit, the sources added, noting that Egypt plans to admit &quot;all Palestinians whom Israel authorizes to leave&quot;. Anxious wait &quot;Every day that passes drains my life and worsens my condition,&quot; said Mohammed Shamiya, 33, who suffers from kidney disease and requires dialysis treatment abroad. &quot;I&#39;m waiting every moment for the opening of the Rafah land crossing.&quot; Safa al-Hawajri, who has received a scholarship to study overseas, was also eagerly anticipating the reopening. &quot;I&#39;m waiting in the hope of fulfilling my ambition, which is tied to the reopening of the crossing,&quot; said Hawajri, 18. &quot;I hope to be able to travel as soon as it opens.&quot; Located on Gaza&#39;s southern border with Egypt, Rafah is the only crossing into and out of the territory that does not pass through Israel. It lies in an area held by Israeli forces following their withdrawal behind the so-called &quot;Yellow Line&quot; under the terms of the US-brokered ceasefire, which came into effect on October 10. Israeli troops still control more than half of Gaza, while the rest remains under Hamas authority. The reopening is expected to facilitate the entry of a 15-member Palestinian technocratic body, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), established to oversee the day-to-day governance of the territory&#39;s 2.2 million residents. The committee, established under the ceasefire deal, will be supervised by the so-called &quot;Board of Peace&quot; chaired by US President Donald Trump. However, the NCAG, headed by former Palestinian Authority deputy minister Ali Shaath, is not expected to enter the Gaza Strip on Sunday, a member of the committee said. &quot;The head of the committee was informed that Israel had approved the entry of the members into Gaza but has not yet set a date,&quot; he told AFP. &quot;We call on the mediators and the US administration to accelerate operations at the crossing and increase the number of travelers.&quot;

Fuel and humanitarian aid trucks enter through the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip in northeastern Egypt on January 27, 2026, as the vital crossing to the Palestinian territory reopens. (AFP)

Middle East

Israel partially reopens Gaza’s Rafah crossing for limited movement of people. The crossing had been closed since May 2024, and full operations are expected to begin Monday.

Israel allows limited movement through Rafah crossing into Gaza

JERUSALEM: Israel on Monday said it would allow a &quot;limited reopening&quot; of the Rafah <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/israel-will-allow-gazas-rafah-crossing-to-open-for-aid-israeli-public-broadcaster" style="color:#0073e6;">border crossing</a> between Gaza and Egypt once it had recovered the remains of the last captive in the Palestinian territory. The announcement came after visiting US envoys reportedly pressed Israeli officials to reopen the crossing, a vital entry point for aid into Gaza. Reopening Rafah forms part of a Gaza truce framework announced by US President Donald Trump in October, but the crossing has <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/israel-says-rafah-crossing-will-stay-closed-until-further-notice" style="color:#0073e6;">remained</a> closed after Israeli forces took control of it during the war. The Israeli military also said it was searching in the Gaza Strip for the remains of Ran Gvili, a non-commissioned officer in the Israeli police&#39;s Yassam unit. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu&#39;s office said the reopening would depend on &quot;the return of all living hostages and a 100% effort by Hamas to locate and return all deceased hostages.&rdquo; It said Israel&#39;s military was currently conducting an operation to exhaust all of the intelligence that had been gathered in the effort to locate and return the body. &quot;Upon completion of this operation, and in accordance with what has been agreed upon with the US, Israel will open the Rafah Crossing,&quot; it said.

Israeli PM office says reopening dependent on " return of all living hostages and a 100% effort by Hamas to locate and return all deceased hostages”; Israel's military currently conducting an operation to locate and return the remains of the last captive.

Israel agrees to 'limited reopening' of Rafah crossing: Netanyahu's office

DOHA: The nearly two-month-old ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will not be complete until Israeli troops withdraw from the Palestinian territory under a peace plan backed by Washington and the UN, mediator Qatar&#39;s prime minister said Saturday.&nbsp;&quot;Now we are at the critical moment ... A ceasefire cannot be completed unless there is a full withdrawal of the Israeli forces, (and) there is stability back in Gaza,&quot; Qatari premier Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told the Doha Forum, an annual diplomatic conference in the Gulf state&#39;s capital.&nbsp;Qatar, alongside the United States and Egypt, helped secure the long-elusive truce in Gaza, which came into effect on Oct. 10 and has mostly halted two years of fighting between Israel and Hamas.&nbsp;Under a second phase of the deal, which has yet to begin, Israel is to withdraw from its positions in the territory, an interim authority is to take over governance, and an international stabilization force (ISF) is to be deployed.&nbsp;Arab and Muslim nations have been hesitant to participate in the new stabilization force, which could end up fighting Palestinian militants.&nbsp;Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, also speaking at the forum, said talks on the force were ongoing and that critical questions remained about its command structure and which countries would contribute.&nbsp;But its first goal, Fidan said, &quot;should be to separate Palestinians from the Israelis.&quot;&nbsp;&quot;This should be our main objective. Then we can address the other remaining issues,&quot; he added.&nbsp;Hamas is also supposed to disarm under the 20-point plan first outlined by US President Donald Trump, with members who decommission their weapons allowed to leave Gaza. The militant group has repeatedly rejected the proposition.&nbsp;Turkey has indicated it wants to take part in the stabilization force, but its efforts are viewed unfavorably in Israel, which considers Ankara too close to Hamas.&nbsp;&quot;I think the only viable way to finish this war is to engage faithfully and forcefully in peace talks,&quot; Fidan said.&nbsp;Sheikh Mohammed said Qatar and fellow truce guarantors Turkiye, Egypt, and the US were &quot;getting together in order to force the way forward for the next phase&quot; of the deal.&nbsp;&quot;And this next phase is just also temporary from our perspective,&quot; he said.&nbsp;&quot;If we are ... just resolving what happened in the last two years, it&#39;s not enough,&quot; he continued, calling for a &quot;lasting solution that provides justice for both people.&quot;&nbsp;Deployment of stabilization force in Gaza &#39;as soon as possible&#39;Egypt&#39;s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty on Saturday urged the rapid deployment of an international ceasefire monitoring force under the second phase of a peace deal for the Gaza Strip. &quot;As for the International Stabilization Force, we need to deploy this force as soon as possible on the ground because one party, which is Israel, is every day violating the ceasefire ... so we need monitors,&quot; the minister said. He warned that Egypt&#39;s Rafah crossing into Gaza &quot;is not going to be a gateway for displacement. It&#39;s only for flooding Gaza with humanitarian and medical care.&quot;

Gaza’s ceasefire incomplete without full Israeli withdrawal; urges second phase with a stabilization force; Egypt demands rapid deployment of monitors and rejects Rafah’s use for displacement.

Articles tagged with "Rafah crossing"

Israel allows limited movement through Rafah crossing into Gaza

Israel agrees to 'limited reopening' of Rafah crossing: Netanyahu's office

Qatar PM says Gaza truce incomplete without 'full withdrawal' by Israel