Head of the Gaza Administration Committee announces the opening of the Rafah crossing next week

Ali Shaath, head of the Gaza Strip Administration Committee, announced on Thursday that the Rafah crossing will be opened next week.

Shaath added, in a recorded address broadcast in Davos during the launch of the Peace Council: “The Rafah crossing is not merely a gate; it is a lifeline.”

He stressed that “with the opening of the crossing, the Gaza Strip will no longer be closed to the future or to the world.”

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He continued: “A great deal of work lies ahead for us in Gaza, work that will not be easy, and the path forward will involve difficult decisions, but the entire world will stand with us.”

Last October, Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire agreement after two years of war that devastated the Gaza Strip and claimed the lives of more than seventy thousand Palestinians, according to figures released by the enclave’s Ministry of Health.

Under the agreement, brokered by the United States, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, the Rafah crossing was scheduled to be opened in the first phase.

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The second phase provides for Israel’s withdrawal from its current positions in Gaza and the assumption of authority in the enclave by a transitional administration, with the deployment of an international stabilization force.

Israel had announced last month its intention to open the crossing in one direction only, exclusively to allow Gaza residents to exit to Egypt, but Cairo quickly denied approving this measure, stressing the need for the crossing to be opened in both directions.

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