Slow movement at Gaza border after Israel reopens Rafah crossing

GAZA/CAIRO/JERUSALEM – Dozens of Palestinians were expected to leave or return to Gaza on Feb 2 after Israel reopened the sole pedestrian crossing to Egypt, a major step in the ceasefire intended to end the war, though with strict limitations on access.

The Rafah crossing, in what was once a city of a quarter of a million people that Israel has since completely demolished and depopulated, is the sole route in or out for nearly all of Gaza’s more than two million residents.

It has been largely shut for most of the war, and reopening it to allow access to the outside world is one of the last major steps required under the initial phase of a US-brokered ceasefire reached in October 2025.

An Israeli security official said Rafah had opened at around 9am “for both entry and exit”.

A Palestinian source said that 50 Palestinians were expected to re-enter the enclave on the first day of the reopening.

Five patients seeking to leave Gaza for health treatment, each accompanied by two relatives, were driven to the crossing compound from the Gaza side in a vehicle escorted by World Health Organization personnel, health officials said.

By mid-afternoon the first Palestinians had yet to complete the crossing in either direction, three Palestinian sources said, blaming delays on Israeli security checks. Israel’s military had no immediate comment.

“The (Rafah) crossing is a lifeline for Gaza; it is a lifeline for us, the patients,” said Mr Moustafa Abdel Hadi, 32, who receives kidney dialysis at Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in central Gaza.

He is one of 20,000 Gazans hoping to leave for treatment abroad.

“We want to be treated in order to return back to live our normal life,” said Mr Hadi.

Israel seized the border crossing in May 2024, about nine months into the Gaza war. Since then, it has largely been closed, apart from a brief period during an earlier ceasefire in early 2025.

Reopening the crossing was one of the requirements under the October ceasefire that outlined the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s plan to stop fighting between Israel and Hamas militants.

In January, Mr Trump declared the start of the second phase of the ceasefire, which is meant to see the sides negotiate Gaza’s future governance and reconstruction.

Even as the crossing reopened, Israeli strikes killed at least four Palestinians on Feb 2, including a three-year-old boy, in separate incidents in the north and south of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the incidents.

In the war’s early months before Israel shut the crossing, some 100,000 Palestinians exited to Egypt through Rafah.

Though Egypt has repeatedly made clear it will not allow a large-scale exodus, the route is seen as vital for wounded and sick Palestinians to seek medical care.

While it was closed, only a few thousands were allowed out for medical treatment in other countries through Israel.

Palestinians seeking to cross at Rafah will require Israeli security approval, three Egyptian sources said.

Reinforced concrete walls, topped with barbed wire, have been installed along the crossing area, the sources said.

At the crossing, Palestinians will have to pass through three separate gates, including one administered by the internationally recognised Palestinian Authority under supervision of a European Union task force but controlled remotely by Israel.

Foreign journalists barred from Gaza

Despite the reopening of Rafah, Israel is still refusing to allow the entry of foreign journalists, banned from Gaza since the start of the war.

Reporting from inside Gaza for international media, including Reuters, is carried out solely by journalists who live there, hundreds of whom have been killed.

Israel’s Supreme Court is considering a petition by the Foreign Press Association (FPA) that demands foreign journalists be allowed to enter Gaza.

Government lawyers argue this could pose risks to Israeli soldiers. The FPA says the public is being deprived of a vital source of independent information.

Under the first phase of the ceasefire, major combat was halted, hostages held in Gaza were released in return for thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and a surge in humanitarian aid was promised.

Israeli forces still hold more than 53 per cent of Gaza’s territory, where they have ordered residents out and demolished many remaining buildings.

Residents are now confined to a strip along the coast, with most living either in makeshift tents or damaged buildings.

The next phase of Mr Trump’s plan foresees Hamas giving up its weapons and relinquishing control to an internationally backed administration that would oversee reconstruction, including luxury residential buildings along the Mediterranean coast.

Many Israelis and Palestinians see this as unrealistic. Hamas has yet to agree to give up its weapons and Israel says it is prepared to restart the war to disarm the group by force.

The war began when Hamas fighters attacked Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel retaliated, destroying much of Gaza and killing more than 70,000 people, according to the Gaza health authorities.

Since the October 2025 deal was struck, Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed more than 500 Palestinians, health officials say, while militants have killed four Israeli soldiers.

On Jan 31, Israel launched some of its most intense air strikes since the ceasefire, killing at least 30 people, in what it said was a response to a Hamas violation of the truce. AFP