Israeli media say Rafah border reopens

Multiple Israeli media outlets report that the crossing between Gaza and Egypt has reopened on a trial basis.

The Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said the key crossing is active as of the morning “in a pilot operation”, adding the movement of people is expected to “actually begin tomorrow in both directions”.

About 150 people are expected to leave the Gaza Strip daily, compared with about 50 who will be allowed to return to the Palestinian territory, it said.

Israel’s Channel 12, citing an unnamed security source, said authorities have begun examining the systems designed for verification and activating a prototype at the crossing in the presence of representatives from the European Union and Egypt.

Some individuals may be allowed to cross through the Rafah crossing today, but the number will not reach 150, it added.

Rafah Crossing – UPDATE:

The Rafah crossing has reopened for movement of people only.

Today, a pilot is underway to test and assess the operation of the crossing.

The movement of residents in both directions, entry and exit to and from Gaza, is expected to begin tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/m0SFdAUXbj

— COGAT (@cogatonline) February 1, 2026

Israel: Rafah opened for ‘limited passage’ of Gaza residents

Israel says it reopened the critical Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt but only in a limited capacity, allowing passage solely for Palestinian residents of the territory.

“In accordance with the ceasefire agreement and a directive of the political echelon, the Rafah Crossing was opened today for the limited passage of residents only,” said COGAT, the Israeli Defence Ministry body coordinating Palestinian civilian affairs.

“As part of this, an initial pilot phase began today conducted in coordination with the European Union Border Assistance Mission [EUBAM], Egypt, and all relevant stakeholders.

“The actual passage of residents in both directions will begin upon completion of these preparations,” it added.

Gaza residents not expected to pass through Rafah today: Report

More details are emerging on the Rafah crossing’s reopening. While it just opened, a security source told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that Gaza residents are not expected to pass through it today.

According to the source, “system checks” are being carried out along with the launch of an “initial operating model” in cooperation with Egypt and a European Union delegation tasked with overseeing the Gaza side of the crossing.

According to COGAT, an Israeli military agency, entry into Gaza will be allowed only for Palestinians who left the territory during the genocidal war and who have received prior Israeli security approval.

Meanwhile, at Egypt’s request, exit from Gaza will be permitted only for the sick and wounded along with their escorts.

Israel will also erect a military checkpoint near the crossing on the Gaza side close to the yellow line demcarcation, Haaretz reported. Egypt had opposed placing the checkpoint at or near the border.

A security official said about 150 people per day would be allowed to enter and exit through the crossing, with those traveling to be brought in groups by bus.

_{Ambulances stand at the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing}

80,000 Palestinians want to return to Gaza; 22,000 wounded need to leave

About 80,000 Palestinians who left Gaza during Israel’s war are seeking to return, an official says.

An estimated 22,000 wounded and sick people are also “in dire need” of leaving the Gaza Strip for treatment abroad, Ismail al-Thawabta, director of Gaza’s Government Media Office, told Al Jazeera.

“We are closely monitoring what is happening at the Rafah crossing, and several parties will be overseeing traffic at the crossing,” al-Thawabta said.

Unclear process of Gaza return sways Palestinians to stay

We’ve been walking around Nasser Medical Complex and spoke with people just to get an insight into what they’re thinking now that Rafah crossing is reopening.

There’s this one common thread – a dynamic of wanting to leave through this “lifeline”, this gate to the outside world. But also the fear of not returning because of the Israeli military’s restrictions.

It’s an uncomfortable dynamic. Palestinians want to leave but at the same time they’re worried they won’t be able to come back. People said the purpose for them departing would strictly be for medical evacuation or continuing their education, and they want to come back later on.

Up until now they haven’t been able to make that decision because the process remains unclear.

‘Extremely important’ wounded children to be able to return after treatment outside Gaza: UNICEF

We have spoken to Jonathan Crickx, the chief of communications at UNICEF Palestine, about how vital the reopening of the Rafah crossing is and what difference it will actually make.

Here’s what he said from Deir el-Balah, in central Gaza:

“We don’t know exactly how things will work and the processes but what is for sure is that this step is an important one – and it’s an important one for several reasons.

“First of all we have seen before April 2024, at the beginning of a very, very intense war, many children and mothers who evacuated through Rafah, so it’s extremely important that these children can be reunited with their parents, that they can just be together as a family in the Gaza Strip or outside of the Gaza Strip.

"And then, medical evacuations are so critical. I met with so many children who have been injured, amputated by explosions during the war who have lost a limb, an arm, a leg – some of these children have been take care of here in the Gaza Strip but the health system is definitely not sufficient to absorb all the children who have a huge need for rehabilitation, etc.

“So for those children, it’s extremely important that they can exit the Gaza Strip to seek the medical treatment they need … and also very important that they are able to come back.”

Delays in evacuating sick, wounded could ‘double number of deaths’

To date, there is no specific mechanism for the urgent evacuation of patients and the wounded through the Rafah crossing despite the need for about 20,000 people in Gaza to get treatment abroad, says a Gaza hospital official.

The figure of sick and injured includes 4,500 children who need immediate care, warned Dr Muhammad Abu Salmiya, director of al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza.

“Applying the previous mechanism for evacuating patients could double the number of deaths and delay their departure for years,” he said.

“During the previous truce, the [Israeli] occupation authorities slowed down the evacuation of patients by delaying approvals and preventing a sufficient number from traveling. Approximately 1,280 patients and wounded individuals died while waiting to leave for treatment outside the Gaza Strip,” said Abu Salmiya.

Israel’s ‘extreme and absurd measures’ at Rafah crossing

Israel’s delay in opening the Rafah border for sick and wounded Palestinians to receive life-saving medical treatment until Monday exemplifies its desire to show its in complete control over Gaza, an analyst says.

“When I see what’s going on I can only think of the history of colonialism, and control is absolutely central to colonialism,” said Mohamad Elmasry, a professor with the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies.

“We see the Israelis over and over again reminding the Palestinians first and then all of us by extension that they are in control. I think the violence we saw yesterday was a part of that, and I think these very extreme and absurd measures that they’re taking at the Rafah border crossing is further evidence that Israel wants to demonstrate [control].”

Israel announced the movement of Palestinians will not start until a “test phase” of security screenings is carried out on Sunday.

Doctor: 150 evacuations a day doesn’t ‘even scratch the surface’

Dr Mohammed Tahir, chief of surgery at Fajr Global, a US-based NGO, says the opening of the Rafah crossing will “be a lifeline for the people of Gaza”.

It’s particularly important in the context of medical evacuations for “tens of thousands of injured people, who create a huge healthcare burden on the existing healthcare infrastructure in Gaza, which has already been depleted”, Tahir told Al Jazeera.

Many patients waiting to be evacuated are “polytrauma patients” suffering from multiple wounds and medically neglected because of the destroyed healthcare system, he added.

More than 1,000 patients died waiting for evacuation between the end of July and November 2025, he said.

Tahir added 150 patients allowed by Israel to evacuate daily through Rafah “does not even scratch the surface” of what is needed. “This is just a token,” he said.

That would take 5 months to evacuate 22,000 patients, assuming they all leave by themselves only...
18 months for 80,000 people to return... If only 50 are allowed to enter a day, 4.5 years.

Compared to El Paso, Texas, over 11,000 pedestrians cross the US-Mexico border there daily.

Israel outlaws medical charity MSF in Gaza after it refuses to give staff list

Israel says it is terminating the humanitarian operations in Gaza of Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, after it refused to provide a list of its Palestinian staff over concerns for their safety and a lack of assurances on how the information would be used.

The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism is “moving to terminate the activities of Medecins Sans Frontieres in the Gaza Strip”, it said.

The decision follows “MSF’s failure to submit lists of local employees, a requirement applicable to all humanitarian organisations operating in the region”. The international medical charity will cease its work and leave Gaza by February 28.

The move by Israel has been widely criticised by relief organisations. They said it risks further endangering aid workers. Israel’s military has already killed more than 1,700 healthcare workers since the start of its invasion of Gaza in October 2023.

The death toll includes at least 15 MSF employees.

_{Doctors Without Borders staff protest against Israel’s killings of healthcare workers in Gaza}

Israeli air raids kill one, wound others in central Gaza

One person has been killed and several wounded in Israeli air raids on people near the so-called Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, a medical source tells Al Jazeera.

Israeli forces have now killed at least 510 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,400 others since the US-brokered “truce” with Hamas was announced on October 10, 2025.

Palestinian killed in Israeli air strike in central Gaza

One person has been killed in an Israeli drone attack in the Wadi Gaza area. The victim was brought to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Palestinian media report.

One person killed in Israeli air attack near Rafah

One person has been killed in an Israeli drone strike northwest of Rafah city in southern Gaza, according to a source at the Nasser Medical Complex. Palestinian media outlets confirmed the death of Khaled Hammad Ahmed Dahleez, 63 years, in an Israeli drone strike in the Al-Shakoush area.

Attacks are continuing in the besieged Palestinian enclave after one of the bloodiest days since an October “ceasefire” took hold. At least 31 people were killed on Saturday in multiple Israeli air raids on northern and southern Gaza.

Pro-Palestine protesters rally in Barcelona


_{Pro-Palestine demonstrators march in Barcelona on January 31, 2026, to demand Spain cease all relations with Israel}

Gaza death toll: How the US gov’t attempted to ‘gaslight’ the world

In the first 18 days of Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza, the Israeli military killed more than 7,000 people, including nearly 3,000 children.

But in the US, Israel’s top ally, then-President Joe Biden cast doubt over the suffering and death count of Palestinians, as provided by the Ministry of Health in Gaza, to push back against calls for ending the brutal Israeli assault.

“I have no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using,” Biden said in October 2023.

More than two years later, as the Palestinian death toll grew tenfold, the Israeli military acknowledged that it killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, confirming the ministry’s data.

Rights advocates say Western officials and media outlets helped the Israeli denial of the scope of atrocities in Gaza, contributing to the dehumanisation of Palestinians.

Abed Ayoub, executive director at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said the US government attempted to “gaslight” the world and discredit the ministry numbers.

“This government played a role in that, and the Biden administration played a role in that,” he told Al Jazeera. “They laid the groundwork for the Israeli officials to do the same thing. But ultimately, at the end, you cannot keep lying about what the world has been watching and witnessing with our own eyes.”

Yeah, still waiting for an arrest warrant for genocide Joe.

‘Underreported silent war’ on the occupied West Bank: UNRWA chief

The occupied West Bank is experiencing its most severe displacement since 1967 with more than 1,000 Palestinians – almost one-quarter of them children – having been killed since October 2023.

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), said tens of thousands of people remain displaced a year after the launch of Israel’s “Iron Wall” military assault.

“Attacks by Israeli settlers continue unabated with Palestinian communities being constantly intimidated, uprooted + their livelihoods ruined,” said Lazzarini.

“While global attention has been focused on Gaza, the flagrant disregard for international humanitarian law in the West Bank has been normalized.”

Since beginning its genocide in the Gaza Strip in October 2023, the Israeli authorities have intensified their crimes in the occupied West Bank particularly through demolitions, forced displacement, and settlement expansion.

The underreported silent war: record levels of violence in the occupied West Bank since October 2023. More than 1,000 Palestinians — almost a quarter of them children — have been killed.

Attacks by Israeli settlers continue unabated, with Palestinian communities being constantly…

— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) February 1, 2026

‘Israeli Society Has Become Completely Genocidal' - B'Tselem Head Yuli Novak

In this latest episode of Beyond Israelism, Simone Zimmerman sits down with Yuli Novak, Executive Director of the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, and one of the most uncompromising dissident voices within Israel. Yuli reflects on her journey from an upbringing shaped by patriotism and belief in Israeli democracy to a painful reckoning with what she now calls an apartheid regime — and with the conditions that enabled mass complicity with genocide.

Yuli revisits her years leading Breaking the Silence — a group of former Israeli soldiers that documented abuses under occupation — which became the target of an all-out smear campaign involving government officials, mainstream media, legal harassment, and infiltration by right-wing groups. Today, as head of B’Tselem, Yuli explains why the organization chose to name Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide in its report ‘Our Genocide’.

Beyond Israelism with Simone Zimmerman is a provocative new video podcast series from Tikkun Olam Productions, the team behind the viral and award-winning 2023 film Israelism. In this series, Simone hosts bold and inspiring conversations that face, head on, the growing global reckoning with Zionism, the debates over Jewish identity, and the urgent struggle for Palestinian freedom.

London Protesters Demand Proper Ceasefire and Focus on Gaza

Protesters gathered in London calling for a proper ceasefire and greater international focus on Gaza, chanting slogans and waving Palestinian flags. Demonstrators urged the UK government to push for an end to hostilities and address the worsening humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory.

Samer Jaber urges freedom for Palestinian hostages

More than 9,200 Palestinians, including over 400 children and 55 women, remain imprisoned without charge or trial under inhumane conditions in Israeli jails.

Speaking to tens of thousands in central London, Samer Jaber, representing the Red Ribbons campaign, highlighted their suffering and called on the global movement to keep their stories at the heart of the fight for justice. Tens of thousands wearing red ribbons joined his call to free Palestinian hostages.

Jaber warned that Israel is now pushing controversial legislation in its parliament to introduce and fast‑track a death penalty regime that overwhelmingly targets Palestinians, a law that would remove safeguards, require mandatory executions, and bar prisoners from inclusion in any future exchange deals. Human rights organisations strongly condemn the bill for violating international law, institutionalising discrimination, and further entrenching violence against Palestinians.

Israeli forces arrest man east of Bethlehem, plane fires gas bombs in Jerusalem

Israeli forces have arrested a Palestinian man near the town of Dar Salah, east of Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank.

Security sources told Wafa news agency that Israeli forces set up a military checkpoint under the Qabr Halwa bridge and arrested the man after taking him out of a vehicle, without knowing his identity.

At the same time, an Israeli aircraft pursued workers in the Wadi al-Hummus area, located between the village of al-Khas, east of Bethlehem, and Sur Baher.

Moreover, security sources also told Wafa that the plane fired gas bombs at the workers as they were trying to reach their job site in the occupied city of Jerusalem, without any injuries being reported.

Israeli forces have recently escalated their attacks against workers in the Wadi al-Hummus area with the use of live ammunition and beatings.

Israeli soldiers force siblings to leave home in Wadi Qaddum for demolition

Israeli forces forced two siblings to evacuate their homes in the Wadi Qaddum neighbourhood of Silwan, south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem, to prepare for demolition as soldiers push through illegal settlement plans.

Local sources told Wafa that the two homes belonging to Kamal and Karam Mohammad Abu Swei, which house 15 people, were facing the threat of demolition due to Israel’s policy of imposing strict restrictions on granting building permits to Palestinians in the occupied territory.

At the same time, Israeli authorities delivered several demolition notices to residents of the al-Bustan neighbourhood in Silwan, targeting the homes of Mohammad Shweiki, the Badran family, Nader Baydoun, Hatem Baydoun, Ishaq Saweh and Abdul Rahman al-Abbasi.

These notices are part of an illegal settlement plan targeting al-Bustan neighbourhood, which will see the demolition of dozens of Palestinian homes and their displacement, despite international condemnation and violation of international law.

Israeli forces order residents of West Bank Bedouin community to evacuate

The Israeli army has ordered residents of a Bedouin community in the occupied West Bank to evacuate and detained three foreign activists, Anadolu news agency reports.

Mustafa Kaabneh, a resident of the Khalayel Bedouin encampment south of the village of al-Mughayyir, east of Ramallah, told Anadolu that soldiers entered the community earlier today and issued a military evacuation order and arrested the solidarity activists.

According to Kaabneh, the encampment’s 11 families rejected the order, fearing that illegal settlers would move in. He explained that the residents in the encampment had been previously displaced two years ago from the nearby Ein Samiya area in Kafr Malek village, following pressure and repeated attacks by Israeli forces and illegal settlers.

Israeli forces storm village west of Ramallah

Israeli forces stormed the village of Shuqba, west of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank. According to the Wafa news agency’s correspondent, forces stormed Shuqba amidst the firing of tear gas canisters. So far, no injuries have been reported.

The correspondent added that soldiers set up a military checkpoint in the middle of the village, searching residents’ vehicles and checking their identities, without any arrests being reported.

Villages west of Ramallah have been subjected to almost daily raids, amid the firing of sound grenades and tear gas, and the intimidation of residents.

Israeli forces close entrances to town southeast of Bethlehem

Israeli forces closed the entrances to the town of Tuqu, southeast of Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank.

The mayor of Tuqu, Taysir Abu Mufreh, told Wafa news agency that troops closed the secondary entrances in Khirbet al-Deir, the Halqum area. Mufreh noted that the northern and western entrances to the town have been closed since the beginning of Israel’s genocidal campaign in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli forces demolish infrastructure in Jenin, occupied West Bank

Israeli forces with military bulldozers have stormed Jenin in the occupied West Bank and began demolishing infrastructure. The raid occurred on Haifa Street in the west of the city, an Al Jazeera team on the ground reported.

The demolitions came on the first anniversary of Israel’s invasion of Jenin refugee camp and its surrounding neighbourhoods, which resulted in the displacement of thousands of Palestinians.

Jenin Governor Kamal Abu al-Rub told Al Jazeera that Israeli authorities extended the military assault on Jenin and its refugee camp until March. There is no justification for the incursion, which has exacerbated the suffering of residents, he said.

Israeli forces also raided Silat al-Harithiya to the west of Jenin, searching a number of homes, as well villages to the south.

Israel demolishes Palestinian shops in occupied West Bank

Israeli forces using bulldozers demolished six shops and a horse stable belonging to a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank. The demolitions were carried out near a Israeli military checkpoint northeast of Bethlehem.

Local sources told Al Jazeera the demolitions were carried out on the pretext that the structures were located in Area C – an area that accounts for about 60 percent of the West Bank and falls under complete Israeli control.

The UN’s humanitarian agency warned in December more than 1,000 Palestinians were displaced in Area C last year because of Israeli demolition orders – the second highest total since 2009.