Gaza: Negotiations are underway to remove “foreigners” through the Rafah crossing

It is the only remaining route out since Israel imposed a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip in response to a deadly Hamas offensive over the weekend. Washington is trying to negotiate the opening of the Rafah crossing into Egypt to “American citizens or other foreign countries who want or need to leave” the enclave, a US official traveling with the secretary of state said. Israel ordered “the evacuation of all Gaza City civilians from their homes in the south for their own safety and protection.”

The border crossing, located in the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip, closed on Tuesday after several Israeli bombings. And it had not reopened at noon this Friday, confirms Amr Abdelrahim, a researcher at Ifri (the French Institute of International Relations).

The reluctance to reopen this passage is not unique to the Egyptians. While President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said Gazans should “stay on their land,” Hamas rejected “the threat from (Israeli) leaders and their calls to leave their homes and flee to the south or to Egypt.” “There will be no travel,” the press release said. As for the Israeli authorities, they asked Palestinians living in Gaza City to “go to the area south of Wadi Gaza,” a stream bordering the city of the same name. Without calling them to leave the enclave.

“Leaving means risking not returning”

Palestinians are probably not inclined to flee their country anyway. “They know what life is like for refugees. They still refer to the displacement of 1948, the memory of having to leave their homes. For them, leaving would mean the risk of not returning,” analyzes Amr Abdelrahim. That year, hundreds of thousands of people were forced to flee after the creation of the State of Israel.

Although the country does not want to see an influx of thousands of refugees, it is nevertheless ready to send humanitarian aid. “This is the role Egypt wants to play. It officially declares its intention to transport international humanitarian aid to Gaza, which will be possible as soon as the border post is reopened and sufficient guarantees for Israel’s security have been established,” the researcher recalls, clarifying that this is not necessarily the case with Cairo. that negotiations should be carried out first, but rather with Hamas and Israel.

Meanwhile, hundreds of residents began fleeing Gaza City, south of the territory, this Friday, according to AFP observations.