Gaza’s Rafah border crossing to Egypt reopens tomorrow: Palestinian embassy

Gaza's Rafah border crossing with Egypt would reopen on Monday, the Palestinian embassy in Egypt said on Saturday, almost a week after a US-brokered ceasefire and hostage deal was agreed between Israel and Hamas. Shortly after the announcement, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Gaza's Rafah crossing would remain closed until further notice.

The crossing, largely closed since May 2024, would allow Palestinians residing in Egypt to return to Gaza, the embassy said in a statement. It did not say whether humanitarian aid would also be allowed to pass through the crossing. Since the US-brokered halt to two years of devastating war, around 560 metric tonnes of food have entered the Gaza Strip per day on average - still well below the scale of need, according to the UN World Food Programme.

The crossing was shut to aid after Israeli forces seized the Gaza side in May 2024, but was briefly reopened in early 2025 during a short-lived ceasefire between the two sides. After two years of bombardment and blockade, the need for food, medicine, shelter and other aid in Gaza is extreme.

In March, Israel launched an 11-week blockade of all aid into Gaza, causing food stockpiles to dwindle and prices to shoot up. In August, a global hunger monitor declared famine was unfolding in Gaza City in the enclave's north.