Gaza Administration Committee: Israeli restrictions delay reopening of Rafah crossing again

The National Committee for the Administration of Gaza said that the reopening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt has been postponed until early next week because of additional security measures imposed by Israel inside the crossing, sources in the committee told Asharq news on Thursday. 

One source said that the commissioner-general of the Executive Council of the Peace Council, Nikolay Mladenov, met on Wednesday with the Gaza administration committee, in the presence of its head, Ali Shaath. 

During the meeting, Mladenov informed them that Israel had requested the completion of new security arrangements inside the crossing, which caused the reopening to be delayed.

The meeting took place at the committee’s temporary headquarters in Cairo. The crossing had been scheduled to reopen on Wednesday, according to information previously conveyed to the committee’s head by the US envoy.

The source explained that Israel had installed an additional checkpoint inside the crossing, equipped with surveillance cameras and fingerprint scanning devices, to inspect people returning from Egypt to the Gaza Strip.

The same source warned that Israel’s policy of obstruction and the imposition of further restrictions on the movement of people and aid would “harm the committee’s work and the implementation of its plan during the first 100 days”.

The source stressed that the committee had called on Israel to commit to reopening the crossing, so that it could take over its field duties in Gaza and begin the first phase of the relief and recovery plan.

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