Gaza’s Rafah crossing to reopen Saturday: sources close to discussions

Following a fourth hostage and prisoner exchange under a truce agreement, Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt is set to reopen on Saturday, according to a Hamas official and a source familiar with the talks who spoke to AFP.

“The mediators informed Hamas of Israel’s approval to open Rafah crossing tomorrow, Saturday, after the completion of the fourth batch of prisoner exchange,” the Hamas official said.

“As per the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release agreement,” the source clarified, wounded Palestinians would be transported from the area at the crossing.

One of the primary access points into Palestinian territory and a crucial route for relief was the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

However, since Israeli forces took control of the Palestinian side in May of last year, the border has been closed.

According to Kaja Kallas, the head of the European Union’s foreign policy, the 27-member union sent a monitoring team to the Rafah crossing “at the request of the Palestinians and the Israelis” on Friday.

“It will support Palestinian border personnel and allow the transfer of individuals out of Gaza, including those who need medical care,” she wrote on X.
 
Israel and Hamas are to carry out their fourth hostage-prisoner swap of the Gaza ceasefire on Saturday as part of a truce agreement that came into effect on January 19.

So far 15 hostages have been handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Israeli campaign group, the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, named the Israeli captives to be released on Saturday as Yarden Bibas, dual American national Keith Siegel and dual French citizen Ofer Kalderon.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group, Israel will release 90 inmates in return, nine of whom are serving life sentences.

When the agreement was revealed earlier this month, mediator Qatar stated that Israeli forces would leave Gaza’s heavily populated regions over the first 42 days.

According to Israeli media, Israel will uphold a buffer zone inside Gaza throughout the first phase of the proposed agreement.

According to a source close to Hamas, Israeli forces were anticipated to stay up to “800 metres (yards) inside Gaza stretching from Rafah in the south to Beit Hanun in the north.”