The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will reopen next week, marking a key step in the ceasefire deal brokered by US President Donald Trump last October, a Palestinian official said Thursday.
Ali Shaath, the head of National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), announced the move in a video recorded at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The forum featured Trump launching a new “Peace Council” aimed at solidifying the fragile truce in Gaza.
“One of the major commitments in the ceasefire agreement was reopening Gaza’s main gateway to the world,” Shaath said. “For Palestinians in Gaza, Rafah is more than a gate, it is a lifeline and symbol of opportunity. Opening Rafah signals that Gaza is no longer closed to the future and the world.”
Israel and Hamas agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire in October 2025, following weeks of heavy Israeli bombardment across Gaza. Under the deal, Israeli forces withdrew to positions covering roughly 53 percent of the territory, including areas near the Rafah crossing previously seized.
On Jan. 14, the Trump administration announced the second phase of its Gaza peace plan, which includes ongoing talks on Hamas disarmament and a potential further Israeli withdrawal. While the Rafah crossing is set to reopen under the new US backed technocratic body, operational details remain undisclosed.
Last month, Israel said it would open the crossing one way to allow civilians to leave Gaza — a move it claimed was coordinated with Egypt. Cairo denied this at the time.
Egypt’s State Information Service later cited an unnamed official saying Egypt had not coordinated the decision with Israel and emphasized that any agreement to open Rafah must enable movement in both directions, in line with Trump’s ceasefire framework.
