Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s office on Wednesday issued a partial denial after a Saudi-owned outlet claimed that Israel had agreed to hand control of the Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt over to the Palestinian Authority.
Contrary to the Saudi report, Mossad Director David Barnea and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) chief Ronen Bar had not told the head of Egyptian General Intelligence, Maj. Gen Hassan Rashad, that Israel would allow the P.A. to take full control of the crossing, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office.
The border crossing is currently being managed by “Gazans not affiliated with Hamas, with [Israel Security Agency] security [oversight],” the statement continues. These are the same Gazans “who have been managing civilian services in the Strip, such as electricity, water and sewage, since the start of the war,” it adds.
They are being supervised by representatives of the European Union Border Assistance Mission Rafah, according to the PMO.
As of now, Israeli forces are still “positioned around the crossing, and there is no passage without the supervision, oversight and advance approval of the Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Security Agency.”
The P.A.’s only “practical involvement” at this time is its “stamp on the passports, which, according to the existing international arrangement, is the only way Gazans may leave the Strip in order to enter, or be received in, other countries,” according to the statement.
It goes on to note that while this procedure is “correct” for the first stage of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, the framework will be evaluated in the future.
On Tuesday, Israel’s Kan News public broadcaster reported that the Israeli negotiating team, which includes Barnea and Bar, met with Egyptian officials to discuss issues expected to come up during negotiations regarding the second and third stages of the ceasefire.
The parties reportedly discussed Israel’s commitment under the deal to reduce its military presence in the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border, as well as the Israel Defense Forces’ withdrawal from the Netzarim Corridor that divides the southern and northern Strip, and the deportation of Palestinian terrorist prisoners set to be released on Saturday.
On Tuesday, Hussein al-Sheikh, a top PLO official, met in Ramallah with Bulgarian diplomat Nataliya Apostolova, who was appointed head of the E.U. observer mission at the Rafah Crossing, the P.A.’s Wafa outlet reported.
During the meeting, the two “discussed arrangements to redeploy the monitoring mission and pave the way for the Palestinian Authority to return to the Rafah and Karm Abu Salem [Kerem Shalom] border crossings,” according to a P.A. readout.
After the IDF seized control of the Rafah Crossing in early May, Egypt moved to close it, not wanting to work with Jerusalem on the matter until Israeli soldiers fully withdrew from the border area. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi prevented aid trucks from passing through the border, even as his government blamed the development on Jerusalem, Al-Qahera News reported at the time.
The P.A. also rebuffed an Israeli offer for it to help manage the border crossing while the war on Hamas was still ongoing.
Jerusalem vehemently rejects renewed Hamas or P.A. rule over the Strip, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu favoring a transfer of control to local bodies not considered hostile to the Jewish state.
Netanyahu said during an interview that aired on May 9 that Israel is seeking to establish a rule “by Gazans who are not committed to our destruction, possibly with the aid of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and other countries that I think want to see stability and peace.” JNS
{Matzav.com Israel}