Gaza's Rafah crossing opens after 2-day closure as Palestinians claim
delays and mistreatment
[February 09, 2026]
By SAMY MAGDY and MELANIE LIDMANCAIRO (AP) — A limited
number of Palestinians traveled between Gaza and Egypt on Sunday as the
Rafah crossing reopened after a two-day closure, Egyptian state media
reported.
The vital border point opened last week for the first time since
mid-2024, one of the main requirements for the U.S.-backed ceasefire
between Israel and Hamas. The crossing was closed Friday and Saturday
because of confusion around operations.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said 17 medical evacuees and 27 companions
had begun the crossing into Egypt. The same number was expected to head
into Gaza. Israel didn’t immediately confirm it.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet
with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Wednesday, though the
major subject of discussion will be Iran, his office said.
Delays and mistreatment accusations
Over the first four days of the crossing's opening, just 36 Palestinians
requiring medical care were allowed to leave for Egypt, plus 62
companions, according to U.N. data. Rafah's reopening came after Israel
retrieved the remains of the last hostage in Gaza and U.S. officials
visited Israel to apply pressure.
Palestinian officials say nearly 20,000 people in Gaza seek to leave for
medical care that isn't available in the war-shattered territory.
A group of Palestinian patients gathered Sunday in the courtyard of a
Red Crescent hospital in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis before
making their way to the crossing for treatment abroad, family members
told The Associated Press.
Amjad Abu Jedian, injured in the war, had been scheduled to leave for
medical treatment on the first day of the crossing’s reopening, but only
five patients were allowed to travel, said his mother, Raja Abu Jedian.
He was shot by an Israeli sniper while doing building work in the
central Bureij refugee camp in July 2024, she said.
On Saturday, his family received a call from the World Health
Organization about traveling on Sunday, she said.
“We want them to take care of the patients (during their evacuation),”
she said. “We want the Israeli military not to burden them.”
Returning to Gaza
A group of Palestinians arrived Sunday at the Egyptian side of the Rafah
crossing to return to Gaza, Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera News satellite
television reported.
Palestinians who returned to Gaza in the first few days of the
crossing's operation described hours of delays and invasive searches by
Israeli authorities and an Israeli-backed Palestinian armed group, Abu
Shabab. Israel has denied mistreatment.
A European Union mission and Palestinian officials run the border
crossing, and Israel has its screening facility some distance away.
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Palestinians patients and their relatives gather to board a bus in
Khan Younis before they head to the Rafah crossing, leaving the Gaza
Strip for medical treatment abroad, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP
Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
The Rafah crossing, a lifeline for Gaza, was the only one not
controlled by Israel before the war. Israel seized the Palestinian
side in May 2024, though traffic through the crossing was heavily
restricted even before that.
Restrictions negotiated by Israeli, Egyptian, Palestinian and
international officials mean that only 50 people will be allowed to
return to Gaza each day and 50 medical patients — with two
companions for each — will be allowed to leave, but far fewer people
have crossed so far.
Hamas negotiations
A senior Hamas official, Khaled Mashaal, said the militant group is
open to discuss the future of its weapons as part of a “balanced
approach” that includes the reconstruction of Gaza and protecting
the Palestinian enclave from Israel. Such issues are central in the
ceasefire’s second phase.
Mashaal said the group has offered multiple options, including a
long-term truce, as part of ongoing negotiations with Egyptian,
Qatari and Turkish mediators.
Hamas plans to agree to a number of “guarantees,” including a
10-year period of disarmament and an international peacekeeping
force on Gaza's borders, “to maintain peace and prevent any clashes"
between the militants and Israel, Mashaal said at a forum in Qatar.
Israel has repeatedly demanded the complete disarmament and
dismantling of Hamas and its infrastructure, both military and
civil.
Mashaal accused Israel of financing and arming militias, like the
Abu Shabab group which operates in Israeli military-controlled areas
in Gaza, “to create chaos."
Mashaal was asked about Hamas’ position on the new Board of Peace, a
Trump-led group of world leaders that is expected to meet for the
first time Feb. 19 to raise money for Gaza's reconstruction. He
didn’t offer a specific answer but said the group won’t accept
“foreign intervention” in Palestinian affairs.
“Gaza is for the people of Gaza. Palestinians are for the people of
Palestine,” he said. “We will not accept foreign rule.”
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Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.
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