Israel agrees to limited Rafah crossing reopening under Trump peace plan, sets conditions

2026-01-26 - 06:48

The Israeli Prime Minister's Office announced late Sunday a conditional agreement to partially reopen the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, framing the move as part of U.S. President Donald Trump's 20-point peace plan. The opening will be strictly limited to pedestrian passage and will be subject to a full Israeli inspection mechanism. Hostage Return as a Prerequisite In a statement published on the social media platform X, Benjamin Netanyahu's office outlined stringent preconditions. "The reopening of the crossing was conditioned upon the return of all living hostages and a 100% effort by Hamas to locate and return all deceased hostages," the statement read. It added that the crossing will open once the search operation for the body of Israeli soldier Ran Gvili is completed. Israel has fully controlled and closed the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing since May 2024 as part of its military offensive in Gaza. A Long-Delayed Opening The Rafah crossing was initially slated to reopen in October under the first phase of a ceasefire agreement. However, Israel did not comply, linking the opening specifically to the recovery of Gvili's remains. Since that ceasefire took effect, Palestinian factions have released 20 living Israeli captives and returned the remains of 27 others. According to Gaza's Health Ministry, the Israeli military has committed hundreds of violations since the ceasefire began, resulting in hundreds of Palestinian casualties.