Gaza, Israeli raid in the centre of the Strip. Rafah crossing point with Egypt reopens on Sunday
Iraele announced that the Rafah pedestrian crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border, the Strip's main gateway to the outside world, will reopen at the weekend
The Israeli Air Force killed four gunmen in the centre of the Gaza Strip. According to the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in a note, these were "four terrorists" who were approaching Israeli soldiers engaged in the area. The episode is part of a context still marked by strong tensions on the ground, despite the ceasefire in force.
On the diplomatic and humanitarian level, Israel announced on Friday that it will reopen over the weekend the Rafah pedestrian crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border, the main access gate to the Strip to the outside world. The reopening, scheduled for Sunday, will allow a "limited movement of people" after an almost complete closure that lasted about two years.
This was announced by Cogat, the Israeli Defence Ministry body responsible for coordinating aid to Gaza. According to the official statement, both Israel and Egypt will carry out checks on Palestinians entering and leaving, while the supervision of the crossing will be entrusted to European agents. Further checks will be carried out by Israel in the adjacent corridor, which remains under Israeli military control.
The Rafah crossing had been almost completely closed since May 2024, when Israel took control of it claiming the need to counter arms smuggling by Hamas. Only during a brief truce in early 2025 had it been temporarily reopened to allow the evacuation of medical patients.
The decision to reopen the crossing comes after the recovery on Monday of the remains of the last Israeli hostage held in Gaza. The following day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu anticipated that Rafah would be reopened in a "limited and controlled" manner.
