Jerusalem has given the green light to open the Rafah Crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt on Friday, two days earlier than agreed in the ceasefire deal with Hamas, Israel’s Kan News broadcaster reports.
Citing European and Palestinian official sources and documentation from Gaza, the public channel said that preparations were being made to allow Palestinians to leave through Rafah starting at noon on Friday.
Under the terms of the hostage release deal, Jerusalem agreed to allow the daily passage into Egypt of 50 wounded terrorists—accompanied by up to three individuals each—starting on the 15th day of the ceasefire, which went into effect on Jan. 19.
However, the first injured Hamas members will be allowed to leave for medical treatment already on Friday, even before Hamas has released the batch of hostages that is set to be freed the next day, according to the report.
The Kan report noted that the terrorists will be allowed to return to Gaza through Rafah after completing their treatment abroad.
The Israeli government was said to have warned mediators Qatar and Egypt that if Saturday’s hostage release does not proceed smoothly, Jerusalem could decide to close the border crossing again.
Pictures obtained by the Israeli broadcaster showed preparations being made for the opening of the southern Gaza border crossing by officials of the European Union Border Assistance Mission (EUBAM) Rafah.
EUBAM will reportedly manage the crossing in cooperation with Gazans who are loosely affiliated with the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.
On Wednesday, German government sources told the DPA news agency that Berlin planned to send armed “border management experts” to Gaza.
To facilitate the deployment, Berlin was said to have planned to amend a 2005 Cabinet decision to allow for the deployment of armed forces, as the security situation is regarded too dangerous for unarmed guards.
The E.U. mission—established in 2005 to help control the crossing—was suspended in 2007 after Hamas seized control of the Strip from the P.A., as Brussels refused to cooperate with the Islamist terrorist group.
Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a partial denial after a Saudi-owned outlet claimed that Jerusalem had agreed to hand control of the crossing to the Palestinian Authority.
The crossing is being managed by “Gazans not affiliated with Hamas, with Shin Bet security,” the PMO statement noted. These are the same Gazans “who have been managing civilian services in the Strip, such as electricity, water and sewage, since the start of the war,” it added.
Ramallah’s only “practical involvement” at this time is its “stamp on the passports, which, according to the existing international arrangement, is the only way Palestinians in Gaza may leave the Strip in order to enter, or be received in, other countries,” according to Netanyahu’s statement.
It went on to note that while this procedure is “correct” for the first stage of the ceasefire deal, the framework will be evaluated in the future.
