Egypt Seeks a Crossing Free of Israeli Inspection.
An Israeli report said Egypt is actively working to reopen the Rafah crossing to allow goods to pass into Gaza without Israeli inspection, according to a military source who commented on the matter. A separate Israeli military source told the Hebrew-language Walla news site that one of the key lessons drawn from the events of October 7 concerns smuggling into the Gaza Strip, both above and below ground and by sea, adding that these smuggling routes had operated for years with the knowledge of Israel’s security establishment. The source said the Israeli military and the Shin Bet security agency are working intensively to counter attempts by Hamas and other groups to smuggle dual-use materials, military equipment, weapons, and ammunition into Gaza, including goods used for barter in order to smuggle funds into the Strip.
A Financial Dispute Behind the Security One.
The source said Egypt had previously benefited financially from a tax system applied to goods entering and exiting Gaza, including at various crossings running from the Suez Canal through Sinai to Rafah, generating millions of dollars a month. Since the decision to close the Rafah crossing and route all goods exclusively through the Kerem Shalom crossing — under Israeli responsibility and subject to Israeli inspection — Egypt’s revenues from this trade have dropped sharply, the source said. According to the report, roughly 600 trucks currently enter Gaza daily from Israel and Egypt, in addition to goods arriving via the port of Ashdod and from Jordan, all of which undergo strict inspection at the Kerem Shalom crossing.
The dispute over Rafah reflects a broader and long-running tension over control of Gaza’s only crossing into Egypt, which has functioned in recent years as the Strip’s sole route in and out for much of the population, even as several other crossings — including Salah al-Din Gate, al-Muntar (Karni), Shuja’iyya, and Sufa — remain closed or under Israeli control. For Palestinians in Gaza, the crossing has long been described as the Strip’s lifeline, making disputes over its opening, closure, and inspection regime a recurring flashpoint between Cairo and Tel Aviv even amid the broader ceasefire framework.