What is the Rafah crossing and why Egypt opposes opening it to allow the exit of those fleeing Gaza?

It is the only escape route for Gaza Strip residents seeking to escape Israeli bombardments, but has been virtually closed for years.

The Rafah crossing, which connects this small Palestinian territory to Egypt, is the only gate in Gaza not directly controlled by Israel, which has imposed a tight blockade on the Gaza Strip and does not allow the entry of food, water or fuel.

Since the Israeli army began bombing Gaza in retaliation for the attack launched by Hamas on October 7, and especially since Israel ordered the forced evacuation of the north of the area in the face of an expected ground offensive, Thousands of Palestinians have moved south and are crowding the Rafah border crossinghoping that Cairo will give the green light for the opening.

On the other side of the border, dozens of trucks loaded with humanitarian aid wait to enter the Strip, where the UN says an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe” is planned. So far, 2,700 people have been killed in Gaza as a result of Israeli bombing.

However, the situation is not easy for Egypt, which must cooperate with Israel to open the border and fears, among other things, that opening the doors of Gaza would mean receiving perhaps tens of thousands of refugees on its territory. permanent..

We advise

What the ‘Gaza Metro’ looks like, the extensive network of secret tunnels built by Hamas and why it is so important in its military strategy

Complaints in Egypt about Netflix series with black Cleopatra

Why violence between Israel and Palestinians is at a ‘critical point’, raising fears of the explosion of a third intifada

The young man who traveled 4,000 kilometers by bicycle through various countries in war and conflict to go to university

What is the Rafah border crossing?

For the majority of the 2.3 million Palestinians living in Gaza, Rafah is their only chance to gain access to the outside world. Yet very few people are allowed to cross the border by Egyptian authorities, even outside periods of hostilities.

Rafah is not a normal border crossing, but one that is open seasonally; Its periodic opening is often news, for example in the Egyptian media. Pilgrims wanting to travel to Mecca, students and patients seeking treatment in Egyptian hospitals are among the lucky few who manage to cross the country with permission.

Once outside – or inside – depending on how you look at it, if the pass closes unexpectedly, travelers on the other side could be stuck for months.

According to UN figures, Egypt allowed 19,608 people to leave Gaza last August, while 314 people were denied permission.

The situation is further complicated by the Erez Passconnecting the north of the Strip to Israel, allowing only those with extremely limited Israeli work permits to leave Gaza.

Erez was attacked by Hamas on October 7, when its militia launched an attack that killed at least 1,300 Israelis and injured 199. It has been tightly closed since then.

The Kerem Shalom crossing, which is also now closed, is limited to the exchange of goods.

The vast majority of Palestinians living in the Strip have never left the small area of ​​just 365 km².

The border crossing is controlled by the Egyptian authorities on one side and those of Hamas on the other, but its opening has always been tacitly linked to Israel’s approval.

On this occasion, despite pressure from countries such as the United States, which want foreigners and people with dual nationality to be allowed to leave the Strip, Israel has so far resisted the opening of Hamas militiamen to prevent a possible escape .

Rafah was also the target of Israeli bombings last week, which hit border facilities on the Palestinian side.

Why Egypt keeps it closed

Egypt has currently refused to clear the way for foreigners to leave if Israel does not allow access of humanitarian aid to Gazans in return.

In previous conflicts, Cairo has also ordered border closures, as happened in 2008, 2014 and 2021.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el Sisi has described the escalation in Gaza as “very dangerous” and indicated that Egypt is seeking a negotiated solution to the violence with its regional and international partners.

However, he has made that clear will not allow the problem to be solved at the expense of otherssaid the Egyptian news agency MENA, referring to the risk of pushing the Palestinians towards Sinai.

This is undoubtedly Egypt’s biggest concern and the driving force behind keeping the border closed.

“Egypt’s great fear is that Israel will never accept the return of the Palestinians,” Hassan Nafaa, writer and professor of political science at Cairo University, told BBC Mundo.

If the Palestinians are forced to leave now, Nafaa argues, “Israelis could carry out another Nakba (“catastrophe”) as happened in 1948when almost a million Palestinians had to flee and were never allowed to return to Palestine despite many UN resolutions.”

Egypt does not want Sinai, that desert triangle wedged between the Suez Canal and the borders with Israel and Gaza, to become a permanent Palestinian refugee camp, as happened with areas in Jordan and Lebanon.

Several statements by members of the Israeli government suggesting that Palestinians from Gaza could move not only to the south of the Gaza Strip, but also to the Sinai, “have not only made the Egyptian government suspicious, but also is convinced that the Israeli government wants to end the presence of Palestinians in Gaza by pushing them towards Egypt and this is not acceptable because it would mean the end of the Palestinian issue,” political scientist Mustafa Kamel el Sayyid, who teaches at the American University in Cairo, told BBC Mundo.

Hassan Nafaa also assures that the statements of Israeli officials are reminiscent of the old Israeli project of the Handoverwhich proposes to resettle Palestinians from historic Palestine to places like Sinai so that Israel retains its Jewish character, “and that is something that Egypt will never accept.”

It is also not feasible to resettle them scattered in other cities, Nafaa points out, because “Egypt is currently hosting some 9 million refugees, many of them African, and is currently facing terrible economic problems, so it would be a burden are.”

The Egyptian government is not alone in fearing that an evacuation of Palestinians to Sinai could result in resettlement. Hamas leader Ismail Haniya stated this in a televised speech this weekend “Our decision is to stay in our country.”

Egyptian media such as Mada Masr, one of the few independent ones in the country, claim that Egypt could be willing to host a limited number of Palestinian refugees in exchange for Economic incentives, According to several security sources consulted by the digital newspaper, a possibility that Sebastian Usher, editor of Arab affairs at the BBC, is also considering.

During the first Gulf War, in 1991, Egypt agreed to participate militarily in the conflict in exchange for the cancellation of part of its foreign debts.

The issue of safety

The Sinai Peninsula, which Egypt recovered after signing the peace accords in 1979 after being occupied by Israel since the 1967 war, is a complex and strategic area for the Arab country.

It borders the Suez Canal, one of the country’s main sources of income, and is home to several tourist cities in the south, such as Sharm el Sheikh.

Islamist terrorism on the peninsula has been a problem for decadespartly because Egypt has limited control over its security due to the terms of the peace agreements.

In the area bordering the Israeli border, Egypt, where the Multinational Peace Force and Observers (MFO, charged with monitoring peace agreements) operates, can only deploy civilian police (no military ones).

The possible entry into Sinai of armed militiamen from Gaza has been a concern of the Egyptian authorities for years, although this is not so much the case at the moment.

After the coup that brought Abdel Fattah el Sisi to power in Egypt, the country was rocked by a wave of terrorist attacks in Sinai and elsewhere.

“There was a suspicion on the part of the government at the time that those who committed these attacks came from Gaza, with the support of Hamas and other Islamist organizations. That is why the Rafah border crossing was closed,” argues Mustafa Kamel el Sayyid.

However, the situation improved “after two or three years, and Egypt returned to its role as a peace mediator between Hamas and Fatah”, adds the political scientist.

Today, this mediation is more complex because “this conflict is very different,” says Hassan Nafaa.

“Israel insists on liquidating Hamas and launching a ground offensive. If this happens, there will be many casualties and a new era will dawn, so it is no longer a matter of mediating between two parties. That is why Egypt is focusing on the humanitarian part,” says the professor at Cairo University. (JO)