The
crossing, which has been largely closed since May 2024, will allow
Palestinians residing in Egypt to return to Gaza, the embassy said in a
statement. It did not say whether humanitarian aid would also be allowed
to pass through the crossing.
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Since
the U.S.-brokered halt to two years of devastating war, around 560
metric tons of food have entered the Gaza Strip per day on average —
still well below the scale of need, according to the U.N. World Food
Programme.
The crossing was shut to aid after Israeli forces seized the Gaza side in May 2024, but was briefly reopened in early 2025 during a short-lived ceasefire between the two sides.
After
two years of bombardment and blockade, the need for food, medicine,
shelter and other aid in Gaza is extreme. In March, Israel launched an
11-week blockade of all aid into Gaza, causing food stockpiles to
dwindle and prices to shoot up.
In August, a global hunger monitor declared famine was unfolding in Gaza City in the enclave's north. Israel dismissed the findings as false and biased.
Gaza's
health authorities say that more than 400 people have died from
malnutrition-related causes. Israel says the figures are exaggerated and
many deaths were attributable to other causes.
Israel announced in late July it was expanding measures
to let more aid into Gaza. But Gaza's side of the Rafah crossing
remained closed, meaning shipments were routed through the Israeli
crossing of Kerem Shalom, about 3 km (2 miles) to the south.
Aid workers and truck drivers complained
that they faced a host of obstacles at Kerem Shalom, ranging from
rejections for minor packing and paperwork issues to short hours at the
Israeli crossing, meaning they could only bring in a fraction of the aid
that was needed.
Israel denies that it has limited aid into the enclave.
Reporting by Nidal Al-Mughrabi; Writing by Alex Dziadosz and Hatem Maher; Editing by Jan Harvey
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