Egypt sources insist Rafah border will open, as Israel-Egypt deny

Israel and Hamas have both denied reports of a tripartite agreement between Egypt, the US, and Israel to open the Rafah border crossing Monday morning to facilitate humanitarian aid.

The Rafah crossing is the only border point between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, which remains closed and has been subject to frequent Israeli attacks.

Egyptian security sources told Reuters: "The ceasefire will continue for several hours, but the exact duration has not been clarified yet."

They added that the three countries agreed to keep the Rafah border crossing open until 2pm GMT, Monday, for one day initially.

People are dying from the lack of food and water, a real genocide is happening here. They are standing from 7:30 am till now. We need to stop this now. We need to open rafah crossing to get them food and water.#Rafah_Crossing #Gaza_Genocide #Gaza_under_attack pic.twitter.com/rYOXItNWfa

— 🌊🇵🇸 (@ialways_mad) October 15, 2023

Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, denied the reports in a statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office issued a statement denying reaching an agreement on a ceasefire in southern Gaza, where 1 million Palestinians from the north of the enclave have fled from, or opening the border.

Egyptian sources told The New Arab’s sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed on Sunday night that emergency preparations are underway to open the Rafah border crossing in the coming hours.

An Egyptian source stated that instructions were issued to officials at Rafah to be ready to operate the crossing in the coming hours. 

These instructions followed the visit of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Cairo, just before his return to Tel Aviv to meet with Israeli officials and discuss the outcomes of his tour, which included Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.