Gaza's border crossing to Egypt reopens in a key step for truce but only
few Palestinians can cross
[February 02, 2026]
By SAMY MAGDY and JOSEF FEDERMAN
CAIRO (AP) — Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt reopened on Monday
for limited traffic, a key step in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire but a
mostly symbolic development on the ground as few people will be allowed
to travel in either direction and no goods will pass through it.
Within the first few hours of the opening, however, no one was seen
crossing in or out of Gaza. An Egyptian official said 50 Palestinians
were expected to cross in each direction on the first day of Rafah's
operation. About 20,000 Palestinian children and adults needing medical
care hope to leave the devastated Gaza via the crossing, according to
Gaza health officials.
Thousands of other Palestinians outside the territory hope to enter and
return home.
State-run Egyptian media and an Israeli security official also confirmed
the reopening. The officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition
of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Before the war, Rafah was the main crossing for people moving in and out
of Gaza. The territory’s handful of other crossings are all shared with
Israel. Under the terms of the ceasefire, which went into effect in
October, Israel’s military controls the area between the Rafah crossing
and the zone where most Palestinians live.
Violence still continued across the coastal territory Monday, and Gaza
hospital officials said an Israeli navy ship had fired on a tent camp,
killing a 3-year-old Palestinian boy. Israel’s military said it was
looking into the incident.
Egypt prepares to receive the war-wounded
Rajaa Abu Mustafa stood Monday outside a Gaza hospital where her
17-year-old son Mohamed was awaiting evacuation. He was blinded by a
shot to the eye last year as he joined desperate Palestinians seeking
food from aid trucks east of the city of Khan Younis.
“We have been waiting for the crossing to open,” she said. “Now it’s
opened and the health ministry called and told us that we will travel to
Egypt for (his) treatment.”
About 150 hospitals across Egypt are ready to receive Palestinian
patients evacuated from Gaza through Rafah, authorities said. Also, the
Egyptian Red Crescent said it has readied “safe spaces” on the Egyptian
side of the crossing to support those evacuated from the Gaza Strip.
Israel has banned sending patients to hospitals in the Israeli-occupied
West Bank and east Jerusalem since the war began — a move that cut off
what was previously the main outlet for Palestinians needing medical
treatment unavailable in Gaza.
Israel has said it and Egypt will vet people for exit and entry through
the Rafah crossing, which will be supervised by European Union border
patrol agents with a small Palestinian presence. The numbers of
travelers are expected to increase over time, if the system is
successful.
Fearing that Israel could use the crossing to push Palestinians out of
the enclave, Egypt has repeatedly said it must be open for them to enter
and exit Gaza. Historically, Israel and Egypt have vetted Palestinians
applying to cross.
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Ambulances line up to enter the Egyptian gate of the Rafah crossing
on the way to the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Egypt, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026.
(AP Photo/Mohamed Arafat)
Palestinian toddler killed by Israeli fire
A 3-year-old Palestinian was killed Monday when Israel navy hit
tents sheltering displaced people on the coast of Gaza’s southern
city of Khan Younis, Palestinian hospital authorities said.
According to the Nasser hospital, which received the body, the
attack happened in Muwasi, a tent camp area on the Gaza Strip’s
coast. The boy was the latest among Palestinians in Gaza since the
October ceasefire in Gaza.
More than 520 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire since the
ceasefire went into effect on Oct. 10, according to Gaza's health
ministry. The casualties since the ceasefire, which UNICEF said
include more than 100 children, are among the over 71,700
Palestinians killed since the start of Israel’s offensive, according
to ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians.
The ministry, which is part of Gaza's Hamas-led government, keeps
detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by
U.N. agencies and independent experts.
Rafah's opening represents ceasefire progress
Israeli troops seized the Rafah crossing in May 2024, calling it
part of efforts to combat arms-smuggling for the militant Hamas
group. The crossing was briefly opened for the evacuation of medical
patients during a ceasefire in early 2025.
Israel had resisted reopening the Rafah crossing, but the recovery
of the remains of the last hostage in Gaza cleared the way to move
forward.
The reopening is seen as a key step as the U.S.-brokered ceasefire
agreement moves into its second phase. In time, Rafah is expected to
ramp up operations if the ceasefire holds.
The truce halted more than two years of war between Israel and Hamas
that began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7,
2023. Its first phase called for the exchange of all hostages held
in Gaza for hundreds of Palestinians held by Israel, an increase in
badly needed humanitarian aid and a partial pullback of Israeli
troops.
The second phase of the ceasefire deal is more complicated. It calls
for installing the new Palestinian committee to govern Gaza,
deploying an international security force, disarming Hamas and
taking steps to begin rebuilding.
___
Federman reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Julia
Frankel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
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