Egypt has made presentations to the administration of US President Donald Trump to complain about Israel's handling of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, sources in Cairo told The National.
The main hurdles include allowing only a trickle of Palestinians back to the war-battered territory and turning a blind eye to their abuse by loyal militiamen.
The sources said that Cairo has to date only gone to the Americans, rather the Israelis, to complain about the practices of Israel and the militiamen.
“We are complaining round-the-clock to the Americans and sharing our information on what's happening in Rafah with the Qataris and Turks,” explained one source.
“The whole process of implementing the second phase of the Trump plan is fragile: further Israeli withdrawals look like a distant possibility and the potential for Palestinian-Palestinian fighting in Gaza is now real.
“But we are telling all those involved not to provoke Israel into shutting down the crossing altogether or further hardening its measures on the Gaza side of the crossing” which Israel occupied in May 2024 to the deep dismay of the Egyptian government.
Significantly, Egypt has not officially announced the reopening of the crossing, a move that the sources said reflected Cairo's frustration over Israel's failure to implement in good faith the Trump plan as well as the fraught relations between the two sides since the Gaza war broke out in 2023. The pair are bound by a 1979 peace treaty.
Citing some of the problems involved in the operation of the Rafah crossing since it reopened last Monday, the sources said members of a UN-sanctioned Palestinian committee that will run Gaza's day-to-day affairs in place of Hamas have been denied permission to enter Gaza from Egypt.
The committee members had been expected to cross into Gaza last Monday. The sources said Israel was linking their entry to the disarming of Hamas, which is part of Mr Trump's 20-point plan.
The sources, however, said denying entry of the committee members derails the implementation of the plan since its move to Gaza to take up its duties is conditional for the posting of the International Stabilisation Force, another UN-sanctioned part of the plan that in theory will oversee disarming Hamas, verify further Israeli withdrawals from the territory and maintain security in the coastal enclave.
Hamas, according to the sources, has indicated its readiness to hand over its heavy weapons, allow the destruction of its elaborate network of underground tunnels and arms manufacturing centres. In return, it wants Israel to stop attacking its leaders and accept the group's intention to becoming a peaceful political party.
Palestinian civilians entering Gaza – mostly women and children so far – have meanwhile been subjected to very long delays and excessively stringent, sometimes humiliating, security measures by the Israelis on the Palestinian side of the crossing, according to the sources.
Israeli-backed militiamen believed to be led by chieftain Ghassan Al Deheiny are abusing the travellers at a separate checkpoint in southern Gaza, they said, stripping them, ostensibly for security reasons, and demanding they strongly advise friends and family to abandon plans to return home in the coastal enclave.
The Rafah crossing is the only exit and entry point for nearly all of Gaza's more than 2.3 million residents that's not controlled by Israel. Its limited reopening was a key element of Mr Trump's plan to end the Israel-Hamas war.
About 50 people had been expected to cross in each direction daily, but the actual numbers have been far fewer. On Thursday, only 21 Palestinians re-entered Gaza, according to authorities there. In the three days starting last Monday, a total of 46 people left the enclave and 25 entered, according to the sources.
About 150,000 Palestinians are believed to have crossed into Egypt since the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023.
Residents said that Palestinians who crossed back into Gaza said they were harassed and interrogated by Israeli troops and by members of a local gang backed by Israel.
The sources also said the reopening of the Rafah crossing has not resulted in a substantial increase in the amount of humanitarian aid going into Gaza in accordance with Mr Trump's plan.
The first phase paused the fighting, which has claimed more than 71,000 Palestinian lives and reduced most of the enclave to rubble. It also included a swap of hostages held by Hamas for hundreds of Palestinians jailed in Israel and saw Israel withdraw behind a “yellow line” that left its military in control of about 53 per cent of Gaza.
Besides the committee running Gaza and the posting of the stabilisation force, the second phase provides for disarming Hamas and further Israeli withdrawals.
