The Rafah crossing has been closed since the Israeli occupation forces took control of the Gaza side in May.
High-ranking US, Israeli and Palestinian Authority officials held a secret meeting in Tel Aviv last week to discuss the reopening of the Rafah border crossing, according to the Axios news website.
Participants in the talks included President Biden’s top Middle East Adviser, Brett McGurk; the director of the Israeli Shin Bet security agency, Ronen Bar; and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’ top deputies — Minister Hussein al-Sheikh and director of intelligence Majed Faraj, the report said, citing three Israeli and US officials.
Reopening the strategic crossing “would be crucial for implementing the first phase” of a ceasefire deal with US officials saying it “could be a first step in a wider post-war strategy for the stabilization and reconstruction of Gaza.”
So far, Israel and Egypt have “failed to reach an agreement” on reopening the crossing, Axios said, with Egypt preferring the PA to oversee it.
Israel, on the other hand, wants those not affiliated with Hamas to operate the crossing, “but objects to any official involvement” of the PA, the report pointed out.
The Israelis “pressed Abbas’ senior aides to agree to send their people to the crossing in an unofficial capacity,” the Axios sources said.
The Palestinian side, they said, rejected that proposal.
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‘Foot in the Door’
Israeli and US officials meanwhile said that while “they understand” the PA’s objections, they felt it was “in the interest” of the PA to have its “foot in the door” of Gaza, “even in an unofficial capacity,” reported Axios.
The Rafah crossing has been closed since the Israeli occupation forces took control of the Gaza side in May, following its ground invasion of the southern town, despite international condemnation.
In June Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi called for Israel “to withdraw from the city of Rafah,” and for conditions to be created “conducive to the immediate return of the displaced Palestinians,” who were forced to abandon their homes in Gaza due to the war.
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Last week, Al-Sisi warned against using the crossing to intensify the blockade on Gaza.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza has since worsened, with blocked aid, suspended medical transfers abroad, and the closure of most hospitals.
Over 38,000 Killed
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 38,848 Palestinians have been killed, and 89,459 wounded. Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
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Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
