A security source told ABC News on Monday that an agreement has been reached to open the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza on Monday for the entry of foreigners and dual nationals into Egypt as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
The Rafah border crossing is the sole crossing point between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. The crossing will be opened for a few hours on Monday and then closed again in the late afternoon, the source said. The exact times of the opening and closing were not specified.
The evacuation may include Egyptian nationals stranded in Gaza, the source said, adding that Israel will deploy crews from the Red Cross to inspect aid shipments flowing into the Palestinian Arab side through the border.
Egyptian authorities have kept the Rafah crossing virtually sealed since a terrorist attack in the Sinai Peninsula in October 2014, though they have temporarily reopened the crossing several times since that attack, mostly for the passage of humanitarian cases.
Egypt has kept the Rafah crossing closed as it blames Hamas terrorists for providing the weapons for the lethal 2014 attack, which killed 30 soldiers, through one of its smuggling tunnels under the border to Sinai. Hamas denies the allegations.
In 2019, Egypt decided that the Rafah crossing will be open in one direction only, for people wishing to cross from Egypt into Gaza. The decision was made after the Palestinian Authority withdrew its staff from the crossing due to clashes with Hamas.