Rafah border due to open: to keep Palestinians out?

JVL Introduction

The Rafah crossing – which should have been opened as part of Phase One of the “ceasefire” plan is due to open next week. However, Israel will still control entry and exits and the crossing falls within the 53% of the territory over which it has full control.  Last month New Arab reported on serious concerns that Israel would only let Palestinians go one way through the crossing – out of Gaza as another aspect of Israel’s long game of displacement in Gaza.

How this will be done is unclear with Israeli government and military sources not (yet) commenting, other than that “An Israeli official told Reuters the government would determine when the border would open and that Palestinians would not be able to leave or enter Gaza without approval from Israel” (my emph Ed)

What will the Trump led Board of “Peace” do about it, noting the chilling conclusion to the article that “US officials in private say that Washington, not Israel, is driving the rollout of the president’s plan to end the war.”

LL

This article was originally published by New Arab on Sat 24 Jan 2026. Read the original here.