Ministers slam Israeli breach of ceasefire plan, which ultimately aims to ‘displace Palestinian people from their land’.
Published On 6 Dec 2025
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Gaza mediators Egypt and Qatar and six other Muslim-majority countries have raised the alarm over Israel’s stated plan for a one-way opening of the Rafah border crossing, so it effectively only allows for Palestinians to leave their territory, doesn’t allow them to return, and blocks the entry of humanitarian aid.
It comes as Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza continues unabated with some 600 violations of the ceasefire in the last seven weeks.
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The foreign ministers of Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and the United Arab Emirates issued a joint statement Saturday that expressed “deep concern” over a recent military announcement that the “Rafah Crossing will open in the coming days exclusively for the exit of residents from the Gaza Strip to Egypt”.
The announcement, which breaches Israeli obligations under the first phase of a United States-led peace plan, was made on Wednesday by an Israeli military unit called the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), stating that one-way crossing would be allowed with Israeli “security approval” in coordination with Egypt.
However, on Saturday, Egypt and its co-signatories slammed the plan, expressing their “complete rejection of any attempts to displace the Palestinian people from their land” and stressing the need for Israel to fully comply with United States President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan, which calls for the Rafah crossing to be opened in both directions.
Eight Arab and Islamic countries issued a joint statement expressing their deep concern over Israeli statements about opening the Rafah crossing in one direction, allowing Gaza residents to leave for Egypt#MOFAQatar pic.twitter.com/sW3Gg7rd09
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN) December 5, 2025
The Rafah crossing has been mostly closed throughout the war.
Since the October 10 ceasefire took effect under Trump’s plan, Israeli authorities have stalled on re-opening it so that desperately needed aid can enter properly and so that people requiring medical treatment can leave, citing Hamas’s failure to return the bodies of all captives and the need for coordination with Egypt. Only one captive body remains in Gaza.
The ministers said they appreciated Trump’s peace efforts, which foresee the formation of a technocratic Palestinian government supported by a multinational stabilisation force under the supervision of an international “Board of Peace”, insisting that his plan move forward “without delay or obstruction”.
They urged that conditions be established allowing the Palestinian Authority to “resume its responsibilities in Gaza”, calling for “sustainable peace” that would enable the two-state solution to be rolled out, with “an independent Palestinian state on the June 4, 1967 borders, including Gaza and the West Bank, with East Jerusalem as its capital”.
Arab and other Muslim countries, which had expressed interest in providing troops for the International Stabilisation Force (ISF), had insisted the US include more defined language about Palestinian self-determination in the plan before a UN Security Council vote last month. Israeli attempts to stymie the move failed.
