ISTANBUL
Local authorities in Gaza said Tuesday that only 397 travelers crossed the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in one week since Israel partially reopened the terminal under strict restrictions.
“Only 397 Palestinians crossed the terminal in both directions from Feb. 2 to 9, out of an expected 1,600 travellers, reflecting roughly 25% Israeli compliance with agreed arrangements,” the Gaza government media office said in a statement.
Israel reopened the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing on Feb. 2 in a highly limited manner after occupying it since May 2024.
Of those who crossed during the week, 225 travelers departed Gaza, 172 arrived, and 26 were turned back, the media office said.
The office did not specify the basis it used to calculate the expected total number of travelers who were supposed to cross.
Egyptian and Israeli media had previously reported that the plan envisioned the daily departure of 50 Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt and the entry of a similar number into the enclave, mainly patients and their companions, but this has not materialized so far.
Palestinian estimates in Gaza indicate that about 22,000 wounded and sick people need to leave the territory for medical treatment amid what officials describe as a catastrophic collapse of the health system caused by Israel’s war on Gaza.
Figures show that about 80,000 Palestinians have registered to return to Gaza, which officials say reflects a continued rejection of displacement and insistence on return despite widespread destruction.
Before the war, hundreds of Palestinians crossed daily through Rafah to Egypt, with hundreds returning to Gaza under normal procedures administered by Gaza’s Interior Ministry and Egyptian authorities without Israeli involvement.
Israel was supposed to reopen the crossing during the first phase of a ceasefire agreement that took effect on Oct. 10, 2025, but failed to do so.
Israel’s war on Gaza, which began on Oct. 8, 2023, and lasted two years, has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 171,000, most of them women and children, and destroyed about 90% of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure.
*Writing by Lina Altawell