Gaza’s Rafah crossing to open ‘for limited movement of people’

JERUSALEM – Gaza’s main gateway, the Rafah crossing with Egypt that was shut at the start of the Iran war, will open on Wednesday for limited movement of people in both directions, Israel’s COGAT, the military body in charge of humanitarian matters, said on Sunday.

The crossing had reopened in early February after being largely shut since May 2024, in the early months of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

Its reopening offered some relief to Palestinians who want to leave Gaza for medical care or those who want to return after fleeing the fighting. 

Gaza is wholly dependent on fuel brought in by trucks from Israel and Egypt and a lack of fresh supplies would put hospital operations at risk and threaten water and sanitation services, local officials say.

Most Palestinians in Gaza are internally displaced after Israel’s two-year war with Hamas militants.