The European Union mission at the Rafah land crossing between Gaza and Egypt suspended its work on Monday, halting movement in both directions for sick travelers and their companions without giving a clear reason, a source in the mission told Al Manassa.
The suspension stranded patients and disrupted one of the few channels for medical travel between Gaza and Egypt. It came after Israeli forces arrested a traveler returning to Gaza on Sunday evening, though the source said it was not yet confirmed that the arrest had caused the halt.
The source, who asked not to be named, said the European mission cited security reasons without further explanation. “The suspension may have come after the Israeli army arrested one of the travelers returning to Gaza on Sunday evening, but that is not confirmed.”
Palestinian Red Crescent spokesperson Raed Al-Nims told Al Manassa that patients were not notified to travel on Monday.
“Our mission is limited to preparing the patients, and we do not know why they did not travel today,” he said. “All we know is that they were simply not notified to travel.”
A source at the Palestinian Embassy in Cairo, who also asked not to be named, told Al Manassa that patients and companions due to return to Gaza on Monday were informed that their trip had been postponed because the European mission had suspended its work at the crossing without explanation.
Israeli forces arrested a young man from the Othman family who had been accompanying his brother during a course of treatment in Egypt, handcuffed him and took him to a detention center without explanation, according to the testimony of a returning traveler to Al Manassa.
The EU Border Assistance Mission at Rafah was established in 2005 to support implementation of the Agreement on Movement and Access between the Israeli occupation government and the Palestinian Authority, providing a neutral third-party presence at the crossing.
After Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007, the European mission suspended its work at Rafah. It resumed operations in January 2025 after a ceasefire between Hamas and the occupation was announced, then halted work again when Israel resumed its war of genocide in Gaza in March of that year.
After a second ceasefire agreement was reached between Hamas and the occupation in October 2025, the mission resumed intermittent operations depending on security conditions controlled by the Israeli army.
The crossing closed again following the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran at the end of February. On March 15, the Israeli army’s coordinator for the southern areas said in a Facebook post that the Rafah crossing would reopen in both directions starting Wednesday, March 18, for limited movement of people only.
