DaysofPal – Preparations are moving forward for a limited reopening of Gaza’s Rafah border crossing, tentatively set for Sunday, yet the process has already sparked a sharp dispute between Egypt and Israel over who will be allowed to leave and return and under what conditions.
For a variety of reasons, including urgent medical care, family reunification, and education, thousands of Palestinians are trying to pass through Rafah. Gaza’s health system has been severely damaged after more than two years of Israeli military operations, leaving many patients without access to specialized care inside the territory.
Israeli negotiators have suggested a condition that would permit more Palestinians to leave Gaza and enter Egypt than those allowed to return, according to Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan. Egyptian officials reportedly rejected this proposal, insisting on an equal balance between departures and arrivals. Cairo views the Israeli demand as an attempt to encourage permanent displacement and reduce Gaza’s population.
North Sinai Governor Khaled Megawer stated to Egyptian media that authorities are operationally prepared for all possibilities at the crossing. Yet details emerging about the planned mechanism point to a system designed to tightly control population movement rather than facilitate free passage.
Different rules for leaving and returning
Further details published by the Israeli news site Ynet outline a process that applies different standards depending on the direction of travel. All Palestinians would be subject to prior approval by Israel’s internal security agency, the Shin Bet, at least 24 hours in advance. A European Union monitoring team is expected to be present, though its authority and responsibilities remain unclear.
For those leaving Gaza, Israel would not deploy forces inside the terminal. Instead, facial recognition cameras would transmit live footage to an Israeli control center, allowing officers to remotely seal electronic gates if someone is flagged.
For those attempting to return to Gaza, the procedure would be far more intrusive. Returnees would be directed to an Israeli military checkpoint established beyond the border, where they would undergo body searches, X-ray scans, and biometric checks carried out by Israeli soldiers. Only after passing these measures would they be allowed to cross what Israel designates as a security line, beyond which large parts of Gaza remain under Israeli military control.
Concerns over a one-way crossing
This imbalance has raised serious concerns among analysts and officials. Egyptian military analyst Major General Samir Farag said the proposal effectively sidesteps the 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access, which defined Rafah as a Palestinian-Egyptian crossing under European supervision. He described the plan as an attempt to open the crossing in practice for exit only, a scenario Egypt has firmly rejected.
Ibrahim Al-Madhoun, director of the Palestinian Institution for Media, said the proposed arrangement turns Rafah into a filtering mechanism rather than a functioning border crossing. He argued that making departure relatively simple while turning return into a degrading and uncertain process creates pressure on Palestinians to leave without any real guarantee of coming back.
Security analyst Osama Khaled warned that the new system would give Israel lasting leverage over one of Gaza’s most vital gateways. He said embedding electronic surveillance and security oversight into every stage of the process would strip the crossing of any remaining sense of Palestinian or Egyptian sovereignty, turning it into a means of political pressure.
Concerns have deepened following comments by retired Israeli General Amir Avivi, who continues to advise the military. Avivi revealed that Israel has cleared land in Rafah to build a large facility intended to solidify long-term military control. He described the site as an organized camp capable of holding hundreds of thousands of people, equipped with identification checks and facial recognition systems to monitor every Palestinian entering or leaving Gaza.
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