The Rafah crossing: the crossing between Gaza and Egypt that plays a key role in the war

Erez, Karni, Nahal Oz, Sufa and Kerem Shalom. These are the five border crossings that would allow the exit of the Gaza strip in the direction Israel. All are closed amid the counter-offensive decreed by the Hebrew government in response to the terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas on Saturday, October 7th. This meant that the hopes of thousands of civilians trying to escape the conflict were focused on a single crossing: Rafah.

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In 1994, with the signing of the Oslo Peace Accords, it was established that the Rafah crossing would be administered by Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian National Authority. This continued until 2005, when Israel unilaterally decided to completely abandon the Gaza Strip, in its place the European Union Border Assistance Mission appeared and the Hebrews limited themselves to maintaining video monitoring of that border.

With the rise of Hamas to power in 2007, however, the European mission disappeared from the field and the Rafah crossing suffered temporary closures and reopenings – largely defined by clashes between Hamas and Israel or crises in Egypt – until 2021, when its permanent reopening was decreed for the entry of humanitarian aid.

The Rafah crossing is an exclusive crossing for people, while trucks loaded with products for the inhabitants of Gaza must pass through the Kerem Shalom checkpoints, on the triple border, administered by Israel.

Rafah is the only one of Gaza’s six borders that is not administered by Israel.

On Saturday, October 7, the terrorist group Hamas carried out a wave of attacks in Israel where at least 1,400 people died and another 199 were kidnapped, according to the latest official figures from the Israeli government.

In response, from that same day Israel launched a military counter-offensive bombing the Gaza Strip. The Hebrew response left at least 2,750 people dead, according to local authorities.

Since managing the crossing, Egypt has imposed a series of restrictions on Rafah. Whether out of fear of an exodus of Gazans to the Sinai desert or out of an interest in maintaining good relations with Israel, Cairo maintains strict control over that border.

The October 7th attacks and bombings in the strip led Egypt to close the Rafah crossing again, which left the Palestinian territory even more isolated and provoked a protest from the international community, which demands its reopening for the entry of humanitarian aid. . and the flight of civilians.

Israel responded to the terrorist attack by bombing the Gaza Strip. (ARIS MESSINIS/)

Although much of the international community demonstrated its support and solidarity with Israel in the face of the October 7 attacks, it was also clear in asking for its response to be proportionate.

On Thursday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recalled that “As this conflict evolves, it is important to protect civilians and this has also been expressed clearly: there are rules of war and there are calls for proportionality” after participating in a meeting attended by the Hebrew Minister of Defense, Yoav Galant.

On Saturday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that “As Israel exercises its legitimate right to defend its people and seeks to ensure this never happens again, it is vitally important that we all care for civilians, and work together to do just that.”.

“Right now, Palestinians in Gaza need humanitarian assistance. They must not pay the price for Hamas’s barbarity”, guaranteed the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on Monday.

In response, over the weekend, Israel launched a warning campaign for civilians living in the north of the Gaza Strip to evacuate south to avoid collateral casualties during clashes with Hamas.

“We asked civilians in the north of the Gaza Strip more than 48 hours ago to evacuate to the south. We did so by sending hundreds of thousands of leaflets, making tens of thousands of phone calls, on the radio and on social media. Additionally, we have opened a humanitarian window for refuge four times. But unfortunately Hamas ordered you not to leave that area“, he assured on Monday The trade during a press conference with international media major Roni Kaplan, spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reserves.

The soldier assured that Hamas members prevented most civilians from escaping, obstructing the Salah al-Din route, the main road in the strip, and threatening to kill those who decided to flee south. Despite this, according to the Israeli military, around 600,000 Gazans managed to flee the northern area.

In the last 48 hours, around 600,000 Gazans managed to flee the northern part of the strip. (MOHAMMED SABER/)

During the evacuations, videos circulated on social media in which a caravan of civilians from Gaza was seen being bombed by Israeli aircraft, according to users. Major Kaplan, however, categorically denied that the Hebrew army was behind such attacks.

“We deny any type of IDF attack on civilian evacuation caravans. We categorically deny this. It’s something fake” he claimed.

“We have to keep in mind that we are talking about a terrorist organization that kills in the name of God. I don’t know what that means, but it’s the organization we fight with. But we have no intention of attacking civilians in the Gaza Strip. The difficulty is that for 16 years Hamas has spread and distributed its terrorist infrastructure and its leaders throughout the Gaza Strip.” he added.

With the mass exodus of Gazans from the north, the southern Gaza Strip has become a true center of despair. On one side of the border, humanitarian aid convoys demand entry from Egypt, while on the other side hundreds of thousands of civilians wait to leave.

The United States reportedly reached an agreement with Egypt, Israel and Qatar so that hundreds of foreigners could leave Gaza on Saturday.

That same day, however, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry assured CNN that “the Rafah crossing is officially open on the Egyptian side, it has been open all along. The problem with the roads is that they were the target of aerial bombings. Therefore, on the Gaza side the roads are not in a state that can accommodate vehicular traffic.”.

Gaza media later reported that upon reaching the crossing, foreigners would not be allowed to cross. In short, Rafah is open but inoperative.

When consulted by The trade In relation to the attacks in Rafah, both Major Kaplan and the spokesman for the Hebrew Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lior Haiat, stated “don’t know information about it”.

“Israel is at war against a terrorist organization that uses its own population as a human shield. They block the roads so that the population cannot leave the region and serve as a defense for terrorists. We are very sorry about this situation.”Haitat assured.

On Sunday, after a meeting with the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattá al Sisi, Blinken declared himself confident that the Rafah crossing would finally be reopened for the entry of humanitarian aid. However, on Monday the Cairo government assured that Israel was not cooperating in facilitating the entry of said humanitarian aid or in the evacuation of foreigners from Gaza.

Blinken recalled that “it is vitally important that we all take care of civilians and work together to do just that” during the Israeli military response. (JACQUELYN MARTIN/)

Both the Israeli army and Hamas have repeatedly denied that there are ceasefire agreements for the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

On Monday, the head of US diplomacy returned to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu and discuss the possibility of humanitarian aid entering Gaza. Conversations between the two were interrupted for five minutes when they had to evacuate to a shelter because bomb sirens were activated. After the impasse, they continued with the meeting, according to a US government spokesperson.

At the time of writing, no achievements have been reported in the talks between Blinken and Netanyahu on the Rafah crossing.

Source: Elcomercio