Exit-only from Rafah: Israel's long game of displacement in Gaza

Earlier this month, Israel announced it would reopen the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt in one direction only, allowing Palestinians to leave the territory but not to return, while also preventing the entry of humanitarian aid.

The announcement, which breaches Israeli obligations under the US-brokered peace plan, drew strong condemnation from Arab and Muslim nations who denounced it as an attempt “to displace the Palestinian people from their land”.

Israel’s plan to restrict the crossing to outbound-only movement rests on the argument that Gaza is “uninhabitable”, making departure the “natural solution”.

The first phase of Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan, implemented in October, called for the crossing to be open for medical evacuations and for travel in both directions. It also explicitly prohibits any measure that would force Palestinians, including people of Gaza, to leave their land.

“This is perfectly consistent with Israel’s actions on the ground, which are aimed at encouraging emigration and thinning Gaza’s population,” Zaha Hassan, a Palestinian human rights lawyer and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told The New Arab.

She pointed to the displacement and confinement of most of Gaza’s inhabitants into less than half the territory, alongside reports of secret charter flights from Israel’s Ramon Airport taking Gazans to distant countries, raising fears of forced transfers.

Tel Aviv said its unilateral, one-way opening of the Rafah border would allow Gaza residents to depart for Egypt, presented as giving them “a chance to leave”.

Hassan noted that for Israel, the Rafah one-direction exit proposal serves largely “to show opposition” to implementing Trump’s plan and to Egypt’s stance on it, while having no expectation that Cairo would accept the idea.

Egypt is seeking US support to press Israel to fully reopen the Rafah crossing. Cairo has categorically rejected any role in facilitating population transfer from Gaza, stressing that it “cannot allow Rafah to become a gateway for the displacement of Palestinians”, as Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Aty told the media.

He reiterated that the Rafah crossing will operate solely for the entry of aid and the evacuation of medical cases for treatment.

Egyptian officials reminded Israel that Article 12 of Trump’s plan stipulates that Rafah can only be opened from both sides, noting that any attempt to open it unilaterally would violate the agreement.

Cairo opposes any schemes that could alter Gaza’s demographic makeup or shift responsibility for its civilian population onto Egypt, warning that a mass influx of Palestinians would strain the country’s capacity. These concerns have been echoed by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who has cautioned about the security risks of resettling large numbers of Palestinians to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

The Rafah crossing is Gaza’s only border point not controlled by Israel and a vital lifeline for humanitarian workers, aid deliveries, and fuel needed in a territory largely deprived of electricity.

Before the war, it saw regular movement of people and goods between Gaza and Egypt and served as the main exit point for Palestinians authorised to leave the enclave, under Israeli blockade since 2007, as well as a critical entry point for humanitarian aid during the conflict.

The crossing has remained mostly closed except for occasional medical evacuations since May 2024, when Israeli forces seized the Palestinian side, effectively halting Palestinian movement. It was briefly reopened during a short-lived ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in January. Since the 10 October ceasefire, Israeli authorities have delayed reopening it, preventing desperately needed aid from entering and patients from leaving for medical care.

More than 16,500 sick and wounded Palestinians are waiting to be evacuated from Gaza for lifesaving medical treatment abroad, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). In the wake of the truce, only 235 patients have been evacuated, primarily through crossings with Israel.

“Reopening exit crossings provides an important lifeline, but it cannot replace the right to return to the Strip,” Shai Grunberg, spokesperson for Gisha, an Israeli rights group that advocates for the freedom of movement of Palestinians, told The New Arab.

She reiterated that Gazans’ right to return must be full and unconditional and not used as a “bargaining chip”, responding to recent media reports that Israel would allow returns via Rafah only once all hostages are returned.

“We remain adamant that the right of Gaza residents to freedom of movement must be upheld. They must be able to both leave and return home,” Gisha’s spokeswoman said.

Since the ceasefire took effect in October, Israel has continued daily attacks on Gaza, killing nearly 400 Palestinians and violating the truce more than 700 times.

Rights groups have accused Tel Aviv of failing to honour its commitments on humanitarian aid and of blocking essential supplies from entering the strip. In over two years of war in Gaza, Israel has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, nearly half of whom are children and women.

“The ceasefire has provided international diplomatic cover for Israel to continue its genocide in Gaza unabated,” Shatha Abdulsamad, a Palestinian researcher and policy analyst at al-Shabaka, told TNA, arguing that Trump’s 20-point peace plan only allows Israel to reposition itself, without addressing ongoing war crimes on the ground.

The researcher called the proposed one-way transfer via Rafah a “continuation of Israel’s genocidal strategy”, which is aimed at making life unbearable and framing the resulting forced displacement as “voluntary emigration” to evade legal accountability.

Abdulsamad further remarked that, given Gaza’s largely refugee population, such a plan would leave Palestinians fleeing into Egypt in a legal limbo, as they would not qualify for refugee status and risk losing access to basic rights.

“It would reinforce the genocidal logic of erasure, serve the colonial goal of seizing Palestinian land without Palestinians, cement their ongoing displacement, and undermine their right to self-determination,” the analyst commented.

Amid growing international pressure to maintain the ceasefire, Washington is pushing to move Gaza into the second, more complex, phase of the agreement, even as Israel tightens its military grip on the war-battered enclave, occupying more than half of its total area.

“Egypt and other Arab and Muslim countries are applying intense pressure, conditioning their participation in phase two on Israel’s meaningful implementation of phase one and on a firm US commitment to act as guarantor,” Hassan affirmed.

“People are still dying from Israeli bombs, from lack of medicine and food, and from being denied life-saving essentials,” she said, adding that Palestinians want to return to their homes but first need an end to the ongoing genocide and occupation.

Palestinians in Gaza report feeling pressured to choose between leaving their families behind to reach Egypt or remaining on their land under increasingly dire conditions.

Grunberg emphasised that in light of Israel’s policies throughout the war and the creation of inhumane living conditions, any departures from Gaza cannot be considered voluntary.

“People are caught between being trapped in a humanitarian catastrophe or being forced to leave with no guarantee they will ever be allowed back.”

Alessandra Bajec is a freelance journalist currently based in Tunis

Follow her on Twitter: @AlessandraBajec