Trucks loaded with humanitarian aid on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing wait to cross into the Gaza Strip. AFP
"The date for the opening of the Rafah Crossing for the movement of people only will be announced at a later stage, once the Israeli side, together with the Egyptian side, completes the necessary preparations for the crossing's opening," said a statement from COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body that oversees civil affairs in the Palestinian territories.
"It should be emphasised that humanitarian aid will not pass through the Rafah Crossing. This was never agreed upon at any stage," it said, adding that "aid continues to enter the Gaza Strip" through other crossings.
UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher urged Israel on Wednesday to immediately open all crossings into Gaza for humanitarian aid, as called for in a US-backed ceasefire plan.
"It should happen now. We want it to happen immediately as part of this agreement," Fletcher told AFP in an interview in Cairo, ahead of a planned trip to the Gaza border.
Earlier in the day, Israeli public broadcaster KAN had reported that the Rafah crossing point to Egypt would reopen, but this did not happen and an Israeli spokesperson did not respond to an AFP request for comment.
Fletcher, the UN under secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief is expected to head to the Rafah crossing on Thursday. It is the only border point that connects Gaza to the world without passing through Israel.
Israel currently allows humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory through other checkpoints under its control, but aid agencies complain that bureaucracy and security controls slow the flow of life-saving supplies.
"We want all of those crossings open and we want completely unimpeded access," Fletcher said, adding that US President Donald Trump and other world leaders at Sharm El Shaikh summit "were unequivocal that we must be allowed to deliver aid at massive scale".
On Monday, the European Union announced plans to resume its civilian monitoring mission at the Rafah border crossing, with operations were expected to restart on Wednesday, October 15.
"The EU stands ready to do its part," Kaja Kallas posted on X, after Hamas released a first group of Israeli captives as part of the agreement. "This mission can play an important role in supporting the ceasefire," she said.
The 27-nation bloc set up a civilian mission in 2005 to help monitor the Rafah crossing, but it was suspended two years later after Hamas took control of Gaza.
The EUBAM monitoring mission aims to provide a neutral, third-party presence at the key crossing and involves police from Italy, Spain and France. It was briefly redeployed in January but suspended again in March.
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