Confusion Over Rafah Crossing: Israel Says Closed, Palestinian Embassy Says Opening Monday

Hours after both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Palestinian Embassy in Cairo announced that Rafah crossing, the crossing between Egypt and Gaza border, would reopen on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday announced that it would “remain closed until further notice”.

“The crossing’s opening will be considered based on the manner in which Hamas fulfils its part in returning the deceased hostages and implementing the agreed-upon framework,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

This came almost a week after a US-brokered ceasefire and hostage deal was signed between Israel and Hamas.

The Rafah crossing had been closed since May 2024. The reopening of the crossing will allow Palestinians residing in Egypt to

return to Gaza.

According to Reuters, the crossing was shut to aid after Israeli forces seized the Gaza side in May 2024, but was briefly reopened in early 2025 during a short-lived ceasefire between the two sides.

Although Gaza has four more border crossings, they are with Israel, and only Rafah links the territory with another neighbouring country – Egypt.

According to Associated Press, Palestinians and aid workers are eagerly awaiting the reopening of the Rafah border crossing, which is the Gaza Strip’s lifeline for food and other aid and its only gateway to the outside world that wasn’t controlled by Israel before the war.

United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher said Thursday that he was headed to the crossing and hoped to see the route “full of trucks, as part of a massive surge of aid following the peace deal.”