What to know about Gaza's Rafah crossing, which could open within days

JERUSALEM (AP) — For Palestinians in Gaza, the Rafah border crossing to Egypt is their gateway to the world. But since Israel seized it in May 2024, it has been largely shut.

Now Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the crossing will reopen soon, as the U.S.-brokered Israel-Hamas ceasefire plan moves into its second phase.

That raises hopes for thousands of war-wounded Palestinians seeking travel abroad for medical care, and for tens of thousands of people outside Gaza seeking to return home.

But they face tight controls. Under conditions Netanyahu stipulates, only dozens of Palestinians will be allowed through the crossing each day, and no goods will cross for now. All other Gaza border crossings are with Israel.

Here’s what to know.

Crossing might open in the coming days

An Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with policy said the Rafah crossing would open in the coming days. A person familiar with discussions on the reopening said they had been told it could come as early as Thursday.

Ali Shaath, newly appointed to head the Palestinian administrative committee governing Gaza's daily affairs, said on Jan. 22 that the crossing would “open next week in both directions.”

"Opening Rafah signals Gaza is no longer closed to the future and to the world,” he said in a video the White House posted on X last week.

The U.S. has pressed Israel and Hamas to enter the ceasefire's second phase. The remains of the final hostage in Gaza were recovered this week, completing a key part of the first phase.

Shaath and the new Palestinian committee remain in Cairo, without Israeli authorization to enter Gaza through Rafah.

Netanyahu says people to cross, not goods

Preparations are underway to let a limited number of medical evacuees leave Gaza first. That's a significant shift from before the war, when most exited through Israel, according to World Health Organization data.

There are conflicting reports on how many people can cross each day. The Israeli official said 50 Palestinians will be allowed in and 50 out daily. The person familiar with discussions said 50 would be allowed in daily and 150 out.

That means a long wait for many of the estimated 20,000 sick and wounded that the territory’s health ministry says need treatment outside Gaza. At a rate of 50 evacuations a day, it would take more than a year for everyone to leave.

In the past, those prioritized for evacuation have been mostly children, cancer patients and people suffering from physical trauma. Most received treatment in Egypt.

Medical evacuees typically exit Gaza with escorts. The person familiar with the discussions said two escorts likely would be allowed for each evacuee.

Meanwhile, at least 30,000 Palestinians have registered with the Palestinian Embassy in Cairo for return to Gaza, according to an embassy official, speaking on condition of anonymity because details of the reopening remain under discussion.

Israel will control who enters and leaves

A complex web of countries and institutions will oversee the Rafah crossing, including Egypt, the Palestinian Authority and a European Union mission, but Israel has control over who enters or exits.

Egypt will provide Israel with a list of names daily to vet and decide on, the Israeli official said.

Under the ceasefire terms, Israel’s military controls the area between the Rafah crossing and the zone where most Palestinians live. COGAT, Israel’s military body in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza, will bus Palestinians to and from the crossing, the official said.

There will be no Israeli soldiers at the crossing, the official said, but Palestinians exiting and entering would undergo Israeli security screening inside Gaza. In the past, such screenings have been conducted by Israeli soldiers and private U.S. contractors.

“Anyone entering or exiting undergoes our inspection, a full inspection," Netanyahu said Tuesday.

Officers from the EU Border Assistance Mission and the Palestinian Authority will run the crossing. Plainclothes officers with the Palestinian Authority will stamp passports, as they did during a brief ceasefire at the start of 2025 and before Hamas wrested control of Gaza in 2007, Palestinian officials told the AP.

Netanyahu seemed to acknowledge that members of Palestinian factions that historically have governed Gaza may play a role, noting that the majority of bureaucrats have a history of working for Hamas or the Palestinian Authority.

How Rafah functioned before the war

Even before the war, Palestinians faced heavy restrictions.

In 2022, the United Nations recorded more than 133,000 entries and 144,000 exits through Rafah, though many involved the same people crossing multiple times. Egyptian authorities allowed imports on 150 days of the year, and more than 32,000 trucks of goods entered.

Restrictions have tracked the region’s politics. Egypt, alongside Israel, imposed a blockade after Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007. It reopened the crossing after Egypt’s 2011 revolution but closed it in 2013 after the military ousted President Mohammed Morsi, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement from which Hamas emerged.

Egypt gradually allowed the Rafah crossing to reopen in the years that followed, but the on-and-off restrictions led to a massive tunnel economy that sprung up beneath it. Tunnels served as an economic lifeline for Gaza and a conduit for weapons and cash, according to Israeli and Egyptian officials. Hamas collected tens of millions of dollars a month in taxes and customs on goods passing through the crossing.

Other details remain unclear

It is not clear when trucks will be allowed to pass through the Rafah crossing, what Palestinians will be permitted to bring and for how long daily entries and exits will be capped at or below 200.

That's a big uncertainty for humanitarian organizations seeking to further surge aid into devastated Gaza, where groups have long reported vast shortages of medical supplies, fuel and other essential needs.

Netanyahu said his focus is on disarming Hamas, a challenging part of the ceasefire's second phase, and destroying its remaining tunnels. He said there would be no reconstruction in Gaza without demilitarization, a stance that could make Israel's control over the Rafah crossing a key point of leverage.

Associated Press writer Samy Magdy contributed from Cairo.

Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war