Report: Israel to seek control of Rafah Crossing to ensure more Gazans go out than in
Sources cited by Reuters say Israel wants to establish a military checkpoint on the Gazan side of the border, where all Palestinians entering or leaving would be subjected to Israeli security checks
Israel intends to restrict the number of Gazans entering the enclave through the Rafah border crossing to ensure that more are allowed out than in, Reuters reported on Friday citing three sources briefed on the matter.
The unnamed sources said that the mechanisms whereby Israel would enforce the entry restrictions remained unclear; neither were they able to cite the ratio of exits to entries Israel allegedly sought to achieve.
However, all three said that Israel wanted to establish a military checkpoint on the Gazan side of the border, where all Palestinians entering or leaving would be subjected to Israeli security checks.
Ali Shaath, the head of a newly constituted transitional Palestinian technocratic body tasked with temporarily administering Gaza, announced on Thursday that crossing on the Egyptian border will open next week.
However, the announcement is yet to be rubberstamped by Israel, with the ministerial cabinet set to discuss the issue on Sunday.
It is understood that Rafah Crossing will be manned by Palestinians affiliated with the Palestinian Authority and monitored by EU personnel.
Among the outstanding issues yet to be resolved are the return of the remains of slain police officer Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, the last remaining hostage held in Gaza; and, above all, the disarmament of Hamas, the jihadist Palestinian group that led the incursion into Israel on October 7, 2023, which saw the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and sparked the Gaza war.