Preparations to reopen the Rafah Crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt for pedestrian traffic in both directions are underway, according to Israel’s Defence Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) unit.
COGAT said exit from and entry into Gaza via Rafah would be carried out in conjunction with Egypt, following Israeli security clearance and under the supervision of a European Union monitoring mission, similar to to the process used during the January 2025 ceasefire.
COGAT said that only Gazan residents who had left the strip during the war would be permitted from Egypt, and only after approval from Israeli security.
According to a Sky News report, from Monday, Israel would allow a total of up to 150 people to leave Gaza each day, including 50 people requiring medical treatment, each accompanied by a maximum of two companions, and 50 people to go in the other direction.
The decision to open the crossing is part of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire reached in October 2025 between Israel and Hamas after two years of war.
In addition to identification and screening at the crossing by European monitors, an additional screening process will be carried out in a designated corridor operated by the defence establishment in an area under IDF control.
According to COGAT data, about 42,000 Gaza residents left the territory during the war, most of them medical patients seeking treatment abroad or dual nationals.
Gazans wishing to enter or leave the Strip would require Egyptian approval, with names forwarded to Israel’s Shin Bet security service for clearance. Israeli officials said senior terror operatives would not be allowed to leave.
According to JNS, Palestinian Authority representatives and European Union monitors stationed at Rafah are expected to conduct initial screening of those leaving Gaza.
The report added that Israeli supervision of departures to Egypt would be conducted remotely from a control room, where Israeli officers will use facial recognition technology to verify that travellers are on pre-approved lists before allowing passage.
The Israeli decision was announced despite an increase in violence in the Rafah area over the weekend.
The IDF said that soldiers identified eight terrorists emerging from underground infrastructure in eastern Rafah, resulting in an airstrike that killed at least three of them.
According to the Hamas-run civil defence agency in Gaza, at least 32 people were killed and that in one attack, a tent sheltering displaced people in the southern city of Khan Younis was hit.
Palestinians said these were the heaviest strikes since the second phase of the ceasefire came into effect in January.
A statement from the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said: “Eight terrorists were identified exiting the underground terror infrastructure in eastern Rafah”, an area in Gaza where Israeli forces are stationed under the October agreement.
The IDF said it had, together with the Israel Security Agency (ISA), hit targets in various locations including "four commanders and additional terrorists". It had also struck a weapons storage facility, a weapons manufacturing site and "two launch sites belonging to Hamas in the central Gaza Strip", it said.
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