Israel reopens Rafah border crossing to Egypt

FE Team | Published: February 02, 2026 22:57:41

GAZA/CAIRO, Feb 02 (Reuters): 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 the 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 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's more than 2 million residents.
It 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 U.S.-brokered ceasefire reached in October.
A 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.
Those 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.
By mid-morning it was not yet clear how many if any had yet crossed. An Israeli security official confirmed Rafah had opened "for both entry and exit".
Israel seized the border crossing in May 2024, about nine months into the Gaza war that was brought to a tenuous halt by the October ceasefire brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump.