Israel closes Rafah border crossing into Gaza again

Israel announced that it closed the border crossings in the Gaza Strip, including Rafah, as part of the joint operation launched by the USA and Iran.

The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli military body that controls the Palestinian territories, said in a statement that these were necessary “security arrangements” that would not affect the humanitarian situation.

The statement said that the Israel Defense Forces and the US Army launched a wide-ranging joint operation to attack the Iranian “terrorist regime” and eliminate long-term existential threats to the State of Israel.

In X, “Accordingly, many necessary security arrangements have been implemented, including the closure of the crossings to the Gaza Strip, including the Rafah Gate, until further notice. The rotation of humanitarian aid personnel has been postponed at this stage.”

COGAT added that the amount of food delivered to the Strip since the ceasefire with Hamas was equivalent to “four times the nutritional needs of the population according to the United Nations methodology.”

Therefore, according to COGAT, current stocks are expected to be sufficient for a long time.

COGAT stated that they will continue to contact the international community and update them on any developments.

On February 2, Israel reopened the Rafah border gate, which is key for the entry of humanitarian aid into the Strip, which it closed nearly a year ago following its takeover by the IDF in May 2024.

But on Saturday, Israel closed the crossing again after launching a large-scale joint attack with the United States on targets in Tehran and other Iranian cities such as Tabriz in the northwest and Isfahan in the center.

The attack killed dozens of people in Iran, including 85 at a girls’ primary school.