Altercation of Israel and Egypt on Reopening of Gaza Border Crossing

Israel and Egypt are currently fighting over the issue of the closing of the Rafah border crossing, each accusing the other of the permanence of the border closure against the background of the rise of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The situation has unfortunately deteriorated a lot since Israel had taken control of the Gaza side of the crossing.

On Tuesday, the Foreign Minister of Israel, Katz, asked the UK and Germany to persuade Egypt to reopen the Rafah crossing. Katz said that because of the security issue, the Palestinian military group Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7th, 2023, has no control over the Rafah border crossing. 

Israel, he said, would not be defeated on just these problems. Katz stated on X, “The world sees the humanitarian situation as the responsibility of Israel, but the key to preventing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza now lies with our Egyptian friends.”

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry admitted that Israel was responsible for the ongoing Gaza Strip’s humanitarian crisis.

According to Shoukry, the Israeli offensive activities in the Rafah region were the reason for the aid being blocked from reaching people in need of food and medical assistance in Gaza.

The diplomatic tension is a result of the fact that Egypt, which is the mediator in the stalled ceasefire talks, has a poor relationship with Israel after the latter took over the other side of the Rafah crossing on May 7. Now, more than 450,000 Palestinians have left Rafah because the Israeli military is advancing into the area, and the tanks have been deployed more profoundly into the city to the north of the border crossing.

The UN Secretary-General António Guterres narrated his concern about the growing number of military operations in Rafah by the Israeli Defense Forces. He again said the importance of a peace negotiation and the opening of the Rafah crossing, and he emphasised that these steps are, in fact, the ones that are escalating the already critical humanitarian crisis. Guterres was against Hamas and its forever rocket attacks on civilians, and he stressed the saving of the lives of the people in Rafah and their fellow Gazans.

The UN and the international aid agencies claim that the closure of the Rafah crossing and the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and southern Gaza is the reason that there is a separation of Gaza from the rest of the world aid. The isolation of the region has aggravated the humanitarian crisis which now Cindy McCain, who is the head of the UN food agency, said that a “full-blown famine” in northern Gaza is spreading southward.

The Israeli military agency, Cogat, the coordinator of the aid access in Gaza, informed that on Sunday, only 64 aid trucks entered Gaza, a significant decrease from the daily number of trucks that entered in April. Moreover, the Israeli protesters obstructed the aid trucks of Gaza, which, therefore, became an additional task for the delivery of the necessities.

Egypt officially announced its support for the South African case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) based on the fact that Israel’s military activity had intensified in Gaza, and this had led to civilian casualties. If Israel is accused of committing acts of genocide, South Africa wants the International Court of Justice to issue an emergency order for Israel to evacuate Rafah.

The US and other partners have warned that there could be large-scale civilian casualties, but Israel has said that it will move on with the planned military measures in Rafah. The inhabitants of Rafa are advised by the Israeli army to relocate to Khan Younis, the site of the previous military assault, and the al-Mawasi neighbourhood, which serves as a relief zone.

The officials of Hamas confirmed that the death toll in Gaza is over 34,900.