Rafah Gate is a safe gate for those fleeing the war between Israel and Hamas. The crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip is the only one not controlled by the Jewish state and is now finally open, albeit sporadically. More than two million people live in the Strip, and currently permits to travel to Egypt only cover some passports and incoming humanitarian aid.
The door to prosperity is slowly opening
After long negotiations between Israel and Egypt, the Rafah gate was opened for a controlled and limited time. The UN said 81 injured Palestinians and 345 foreign passport holders were taken to a field hospital in Egypt. Only some people will be able to leave Gaza, and everything depends on their documents: around 600 Palestinians or dual citizens will be able to cross, including 400 from the USA, Switzerland, Greece, Netherlands, Belgium, Mexico, South Korea and South Korea. others, villages.
There is also hope that the most seriously injured Palestinians can be evacuated to a new field hospital in Egypt for medical treatment. The hypothesis is that more and more refugees with foreign passports may leave Gaza; but we must not forget that more than two million people live in the Strip: those who managed to leave constitute a small fraction of the total.
Humanitarian aid also passes through Rafah, but always with interruptions. Aid workers say the supplies sent to Gaza are a fraction of what is needed. The World Food Program (WFP) described the situation in Gaza as “catastrophic” due to lack of food, water, electricity and fuel and called for more aid to be allowed into the region.
There are only two other crossing points in the Gaza Strip: the Erez crossing in northern Gaza, which is a human-only crossing into Israel, and the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza, which is a commercial-only crossing into Israel. Both were closed at the beginning of the war and are still closed.
Welfare gate in history
The Rafah Gate is the result of the 1979 peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. Rafah Gate, the only escape route on the 12-kilometer border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, has always been at the center of every crisis due to its geographical location. In the Palestinian enclave. Until 2005, it was managed by the Israel Airports Authority according to the Israeli Unilateral Withdrawal Plan. It later came under the control of the European Union Border Assistance Mission (EUBAM), which administered it until June 25, 2006, when Hamas men captured Israeli soldier Gilat Shalit.
Re-opened and effectively armored in 2007, the pass was at the center of a real attack in 2008; During another blockade of the strip, Hamas men demolished approximately 200 meters of the border wall forming the crossing with dynamite and bulldozers. Thus a river of approximately 350,000 Palestinians managed to cross into Egypt to escape the blockade imposed by Israel six months ago; the same Hamas militia took control of the entire Gaza Strip by force action. Many crossed the border to pick up food and supplies, which had already been depleted due to the blockade, and then returned to the strip with bags of food and fuel canisters.
And again in the summer of 2014, the crossing was blocked after clashes between Israelis and Palestinians. Only the wounded, the sick and foreigners were allowed to cross into Egypt. That’s what we’re working on right now to allow for the same kind of opening.
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Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
