GAZA\/CAIRO
\nIsrael reopened the border between Gaza and Egypt on Monday for a limited number of people on foot, allowing a small number of Palestinians to leave \u200bthe enclave and some of those who escaped the war to return for the first time.
\nThe crossing, in Israeli-held territory 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\u2019s more than 2 million residents.
\nIt has been largely shut for most of the war, and reopening it to give even a small number of Gaza residents 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.
\nA Palestinian source said that on the first day 50 Palestinians were expected to enter Gaza, where they will face stringent Israeli security checks, and a similar number would be permitted to leave.
\nThose allowed to enter would be among the more than 100,000 Palestinians who had been able to escape Gaza in the early months of the war.
\nBy mid-morning \u200cit was not yet \u200cclear how many if any had yet crossed. An Israeli security official confirmed Rafah had opened \u201cfor both entry \u200cand exit.\u201d
\nIsrael \u200bseized the \u200cborder crossing in May 2024, about nine months into the Gaza war that was brought to a tenuous halt by the October ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump.
\nReopening the crossing was one of the requirements under the first phase of Trump\u2019s broader plan to stop fighting between Israel and Hamas militants. In January Trump declared the start of the second phase, meant to see the sides negotiate Gaza\u2019s future governance and reconstruction.
\nEven as the crossing reopened, Israeli strikes killed at least four Palestinians on Monday, including a three-year-old boy, in separate incidents in the north and south of the Strip. The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the incidents.<\/p>\n
Israeli inspection
\nIn the first nine months of the war some 100,000 Palestinians exited to Egypt through the Rafah crossing. Some were sponsored by aid groups. Some are believed to have paid bribes to secure permission to enter Egypt.
\nAfter Israeli forces swept into the area, they closed the crossing, apart from a brief opening for the evacuation of medical patients during a ceasefire in early 2025.
\nThe closure cut off an important \u200croute for wounded and sick Palestinians to seek medical care outside Gaza, with only a few thousand \u200dallowed out for medical treatment in third countries by other routes through \u200dIsrael over the past year.
\nPalestinians seeking to cross at Rafah after the reopening will require Israeli security approval, three Egyptian sources said. Reinforced concrete walls, topped \u200dwith barbed wire, have been installed along the crossing area, the sources said.
\nGazans entering and exiting will have to walk for 2.5 km (1.5 miles) along a track through the Israeli-held border area known as the
\nPhiladelphi corridor, the sources said.
\nAt the crossing they will have to pass through three separate gates, including one administered by the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority under supervision of a European Union task force but controlled remotely by Israel.<\/p>\n
Foreign journalists barred from Gaza
\nDespite the reopening of Rafah, Israel is still refusing to allow the entry of \u200bforeign journalists, who have been 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.
\nIsrael\u2019s Supreme Court is considering a petition by the Foreign Press Association 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.
\nUnder 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.
\nIsraeli forces still hold more than 53 percent of Gaza\u2019s territory, where they have ordered residents out and demolished many remaining buildings. The enclave\u2019s residents are now confined to a strip along the coast, where most live either in makeshift tents or damaged buildings.
\nThe next phase of Trump\u2019s 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.
\nMany 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.
\nThe 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 Gaza health authorities.
\nSince the October deal was struck, Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed more than \u200c500 Palestinians, health officials say, while militants have killed four Israeli soldiers.
\nOn Saturday, Israel launched some of its most intense airstrikes since the ceasefire, killing at least 30 people, in what it said was a response to a Hamas violation of the truce the previous day when troops clashed with militants in Rafah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GAZA\/CAIRO Israel reopened the border between Gaza and Egypt on Monday for a limited number of people on foot, allowing a small number of Palestinians to leave \u200bthe enclave and some of those who escaped the war to return for the first time. The crossing, in Israeli-held territory in what was once a city of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529233,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-529211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n