by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – Israel, not the Palestinian Authority, will control the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip during the first phase of the current four-day-old ceasefire with Hamas, the Associated Press reports.
Israel’s intention was announced Wednesday by the office of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, which denied earlier reports that the PA would be in charge of the crossing.
Having taken effect on Sunday, January 19, the ceasefire is set to last for six weeks. During this time, 33 hostages held by Hamas will be released at least three at a time every weekend. In exchange, Israel will release 737 Palestinian prisoners, including 110 who are serving life sentences for terrorism against Israel. A further 1,167 Palestinians detained by the IDF in Gaza are also set to be released in the first phase.
The IDF will withdraw into a buffer zone about 0.6 miles wide inside Gaza, along the border with Israel during the first phase.
Moreover, humanitarian aid for Gaza will be controlled by Israel, AP said. “Nearly 900 trucks of aid entered Gaza on the third day of the ceasefire Tuesday, the United Nations said. That’s significantly higher than the 600 trucks called for in the deal,” AP noted in its report.
The European Union has said in a statement that it will have monitors supervising the Rafah crossing, AP reports.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
The United States is rapidly approaching another historic fiscal milestone, with the national debt now nearing $40 trillion as Washington continues running massive annual deficits and interest costs consume a growing share of federal spending.
U.S. envoy Jared Kushner met senior Hamas leaders in Egypt on Sunday as the Trump administration intensified efforts to move Gaza toward disarmament and postwar governance, even as Israel continued targeted strikes against terrorist operatives inside the Gaza Strip.
A third red heifer has been born in Israel this season, giving rabbis three candidates now being examined as part of renewed efforts connected to the biblical purification rites required for Temple service.
A highly unusual midsummer storm swept across parts of Israel on Saturday, August 15, bringing heavy rain to Jerusalem, shattering August rainfall records near the capital, and sending floodwaters through a Judean Desert stream in what meteorologists described as an unprecedented summer event.
France’s Constitutional Council has upheld the core provisions of a sweeping new law establishing a legal right to assisted dying, clearing one of the final major obstacles to euthanasia and assisted suicide in a nation long shaped by Catholic tradition.
Scores of people have been killed after a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia’s Flores Island early Saturday, authorities said, as rescuers struggled to reach some of the hardest-hit areas, while a less powerful tremor was reported in North Sumatra province.
Five people were injured, one critically, in a shooting involving multiple gunmen at Virginia State University early Saturday, authorities said, a day after six people, including a suspected shooter, died in separate shootings in Michigan.