On Monday, 2 February, Israel reopened the Rafah crossing in the southern Gaza Strip at the border with Egypt, in a step forward in the US-brokered ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
The crossing was supposed to reopen earlier, during the first phase of the ceasefire that began in October 2025. However, Israel postponed it until the return of the body of the last Israeli hostage, which happened last week.
