Rafah Crossing Closed Due to Security Operation in Sinai

Gazans wait for clearance at the Rafah crossing to enter Egypt [Getty]
Gazans wait for clearance at the Rafah crossing to enter Egypt [Getty]
TT
20

Rafah Crossing Closed Due to Security Operation in Sinai

Gazans wait for clearance at the Rafah crossing to enter Egypt [Getty]
Gazans wait for clearance at the Rafah crossing to enter Egypt [Getty]

Egypt on Friday closed its border with the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said, after Cairo launched a major operation against jihadists in the Sinai Peninsula.

The head of Hamas, the Islamist group which runs Gaza, was however permitted to travel to Cairo for talks before the border was closed a day earlier than planned.

Friday was supposed to be the final of a three-day border opening for humanitarian cases from Gaza, the first time the Rafah border crossing with Egypt had been open in 2018.

"The Rafah border was closed today due to the security situation in Sinai, we were informed by the Egyptian authorities," said Saleh al-Zaq, head of the civil affairs committee which controls the borders.

The Egyptian army announced Friday morning the launch of a major operation against jihadists across swathes of territory, including the Sinai Peninsula bordering Gaza.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniya crossed the border to Cairo for talks with Egyptian leaders before Rafah was closed, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said.

He said the talks would include an Egyptian-brokered reconciliation deal between Hamas and rival Palestinian movement Fatah that has faltered, with multiple deadlines missed.

Hamas officials said the visit is to discuss the economic crisis "that put Gaza on the edge of the abyss". Talks will also cover the obstacles stalling a Palestinian unity deal with the Palestinian government in the West Bank.

Thousands of Gazans had gathered on Thursday at the crossing in the hope for a brief chance to leave the Strip.

The UK-based Medical Aid for Palestinians warned on Tuesday that the healthcare system in Gaza is on the verge of "total collapse," due to Israel's decade-old blockade of the strip.



France Condemns Israel's Approval for Settlement Project East of Jerusalem

The separation wall next to the Arab neighborhood of Al-Eizariya, near where the Israeli government says housing units will be built as part of the E1 settlement development project, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
The separation wall next to the Arab neighborhood of Al-Eizariya, near where the Israeli government says housing units will be built as part of the E1 settlement development project, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
TT
20

France Condemns Israel's Approval for Settlement Project East of Jerusalem

The separation wall next to the Arab neighborhood of Al-Eizariya, near where the Israeli government says housing units will be built as part of the E1 settlement development project, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
The separation wall next to the Arab neighborhood of Al-Eizariya, near where the Israeli government says housing units will be built as part of the E1 settlement development project, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

France's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday that the approval by an Israeli planning commission of a project to build settlements in the E1 area east of Jerusalem is unacceptable and constitutes a violation of international law.

On Wednesday, Israel said that the E1 project, which would bisect the occupied West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, had received the final go-ahead from a Defense Ministry planning commission.

The approval of the E1 project was announced last week by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

Restarting the project could further isolate Israel, which has watched some Western allies frustrated by its continuation and planned escalation of the Gaza war announce they may recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September.

"With E1 we are delivering finally on what has been promised for years," Smotrich, an ultra-nationalist in the ruling right-wing coalition, said in a statement. "The Palestinian state is being erased from the table, not with slogans but with actions."

The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the announcement on Wednesday, saying that the E1 settlement would isolate Palestinian communities living in the area and undermines the possibility of a two-state solution.

A German government spokesperson commenting on the announcement told reporters on Wednesday that settlement construction violates international law and "hinders a negotiated two-state solution and an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.”