The readiness to resume travel through the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt on Monday reflects a complex mix of pressing humanitarian needs and the strict security system imposed by the occupation, making the opening of the crossing a limited step in substance, despite its great symbolic importance to the residents of the Strip.
While Palestinians await the opportunity to cross in both directions after the closure and destruction of the crossing during the May 2014 war, its reopening comes as part of a “trial phase” governed by strict Israeli restrictions, rather than reflecting a fundamental shift in the reality of the siege.
The establishment of the “Regavim” inspection and verification corridor, managed by Israeli security services and located in an area under military control, effectively transforms the crossing into an indirect Israeli control point, despite the presence of Egyptian administration and a European mission on the ground.
The operational mechanism, which requires checking the identities of those arriving against pre-approved lists from the security services, means that the occupation retains the right to veto who is allowed to pass and who is denied passage. This turns any movement of people into a monitored exception rather than a guaranteed right for the besieged population.
This operational model, presented as part of “enhancing security oversight,” raises political and legal concerns, especially given Hamas’s warning that any additional Israeli conditions or obstacles at the Rafah crossing constitute a violation of the ceasefire agreement.
Thus, the crossing becomes a true test of the seriousness of the commitments outlined in the political understandings, and of the ability of mediators and guarantors to curb Israel’s use of border movement as a tool of continuous pressure on Gaza.
From a humanitarian perspective, the gap is stark between the scale of the medical need and the announced limit on movement through the crossing. While the number of patients and wounded individuals requiring treatment outside the Gaza Strip is estimated to be in the tens of thousands, particularly in light of the near-total collapse of Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure, the current arrangements impose a daily limit of no more than 150 people—a number disproportionate to the scale of the accumulating health crisis.
The anticipated oversight by the World Health Organization of patient transfers, as indicated by UNRWA statements, lends the process an international institutional dimension, but it fails to address the core of the dilemma: the limited number of people allowed to leave, the multiple layers of security screening, and the nature of the priority groups for travel.
Without a genuine expansion of daily capacity and a clear simplification of procedures, many patients will remain on waiting lists for months, transforming this “window of hope” into a slow process that does not reflect the urgency of their medical conditions.
Furthermore, the current focus on the movement of individuals, without a clear and simultaneous plan for the entry of at least 600 aid trucks daily, as estimated, reveals a mismatch in priorities. The movement of patients and travelers cannot be separated from the essential flow of medical, food, and logistical supplies into the Gaza Strip.
In the humanitarian context, the Rafah crossing is not merely a passage for people; it is a vital artery for delivering the bare necessities of life to a population suffering under a prolonged siege.
In conclusion, the reopening of the Rafah crossing in its current experimental form appears to be a significant political and humanitarian step, but it is surrounded by profound questions about its sustainability and whether it will develop into a real mechanism to alleviate the blockade, or whether it will remain merely a regulated arrangement for limited movement, managed entirely under the watchful eye of Israeli control and the guillotine of security approvals.
Source: Palestinian media (edited and translated by Al-Manar)