It has also provided the only route for aid convoys to enter the Palestinian territory. Since the first aid delivery reached Gaza nearly two weeks ago, trucks have brought in medicine, food and a limited supply of drinking water. But humanitarian officials warn the aid is nowhere near enough for the more than 2 million Gaza residents in peril, with dwindling supplies and no way to flee.
Where is the Rafah border crossing?
The crossing between the southern edge of the Gaza Strip and Egypt’s northern Sinai region is the only link from Gaza that Israel does not control. Palestinians in Gaza have lived under a 16-year blockade maintained by Israel and Egypt since 2007, when Hamas took control of the coastal enclave.
The crossing has been closed since Israeli airstrikes damaged the main passage for relief convoys last month, as part of military operations targeting Hamas after their attack in Israel on Oct. 7.
Egypt has kept the crossing closed to passengers and made clear that it refuses to accept an influx of Palestinian refugees, wary of a political and security fallout.
The Rafah crossing previously served as a vital passageway for Palestinians living outside Gaza to visit relatives there, and for Palestinians in Gaza to receive medical treatment in Egypt.
Egypt maintains tight control over the border, and people wishing to cross must get permission from Palestinian and Egyptian authorities. North Sinai, where Egypt has battled Islamist militants for a decade, is heavily militarized, and Egypt has long feared spillover instability from Gaza.
What happened at Rafah and why is the crossing important to Gaza?
People and goods were able to cross through the Rafah border with Egypt for some days after Hamas militants launched the unprecedented Oct. 7 assault on Israel that killed at least 1,400 Israelis. Rafah stopped operating on Oct. 10, when retaliatory Israeli strikes damaged the crossing.
Israel’s bombing of Gaza has since wounded and killed thousands of Palestinians as Israeli forces expand a ground assault on the densely populated enclave. Israel has also cut off electricity to Gaza and blocked fuel from being sent in with the aid trucks.
The latest movements of foreign nationals and aid at Rafah remains woefully insufficient for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with Palestinians who remain trapped in the enclave far past the point of desperation, aid workers said. A few dozen aid trucks have entered Gaza at a time, compared with hundreds that rolled in daily from various points before this war.
As drinking water dwindles in Gaza, the United Nations has sounded the alarm about the potential for disease to spread. Hospitals are overcrowded and running out of fuel and supplies. Israel’s calls for residents of northern Gaza to head south have worsened the crisis, according to aid workers. The United Nations has warned that forcible evacuation could contravene international law.
The crossing is formally controlled by Egypt and Palestinian authorities in Gaza. But Israel controls the skies and has struck the Rafah area as it continued to bomb southern Gaza.
Egypt, which has its own political and security concerns, is determined to avoid an exodus of Palestinian refugees. The government is concerned about security in its Sinai region and wants to avoid being seen as complicit in a campaign that could force Palestinians out of Gaza for good.
Opening the Rafah crossing to humanitarian aid and to foreign nationals — including the estimated 500-600 U.S. citizens trapped in Gaza, who wish to leave — were key topics of discussion during Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s whirlwind Middle East tour days after Hamas’s attack.
After President Biden visited Israel in a show of solidarity in October, he said Egypt would open the crossing for aid deliveries, announcing that a deal was struck with Israel to allow aid trucks through Rafah into Gaza.
The passage of some foreign citizens this week came after negotiations involving Hamas and the U.S., Egyptian and Israeli governments, which all traded public recriminations over who was to blame for the previous deadlock. The deal that opened the crossing for evacuations was mediated by Qatar, a person familiar with the agreement said.
What has blocked evacuations and aid?
Egyptian, Israeli, U.S. and Hamas authorities have given conflicting explanations for why civilians — including with serious injuries — were not allowed to cross from Gaza to Egypt before the agreement.
Those border negotiations have focused largely on aid deliveries and the exit of foreign citizens, as well as the release of the 240 hostages taken by Hamas militants. Previous deals, involving the departure of foreign nationals, have fallen through at the last minute.
While U.S. officials have primarily blamed Hamas for the stalemate, they have also alluded to the complexity of talks involving many parties, each with their own interests. Egypt has blamed Israel for not providing guarantees that it will not bomb the crossing or its vicinity if people try to leave.
Aid workers have pointed to the need for a cease-fire to safely deliver the supplies allowed into Gaza.
Israel has said it will not allow aid in through its own borders with Gaza but will not stop deliveries from Egypt — on the conditions they are limited to “food, water and medicine for the civilian population” and do not reach Hamas.
U.N. Secretary General António Guterres has welcomed the aid deliveries but called for an “unrestricted and sustained humanitarian aid” into Gaza.
Bisset and Francis reported from London. Karen DeYoung, Yasmin Abutaleb and Bryan Pietsch in Washington, John Hudson in Amman, Jordan, Tyler Page in Tel Aviv, Kareem Fahim in Beirut, Kelly Kasulis Cho in Seoul and Annabelle Timsit in London contributed to this report
