The US, Israel and the Palestinian Authority held a secret meeting last week to discuss the reopening of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza as part of a hostage and ceasefire deal, three Israeli and US officials told Barak Ravid of Axios.
This was the first time since October 7 that US, Israeli and Palestinian Arab officials met together to discuss the day after the war ends in Gaza.
Reopening the strategic Rafah crossing would be crucial for implementing the first phase of a hostage and ceasefire deal, which includes the transfer of wounded Hamas members to Egypt for medical treatment. This would only be possible through Rafah.
Israel and Egypt have so far failed to reach an agreement on how to reopen the crossing.
Egypt wants personnel from the Palestinian Authority to operate the crossing. Israel wants people who are not affiliated with Hamas to do so, but objects to any official involvement of the Palestinian Authority.
The participants in the meeting, which took place in Tel Aviv, included President Joe Biden's top Middle East Adviser, Brett McGurk; the director of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet, Ronen Bar; and PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas' top deputies, Hussein al-Sheikh and director of intelligence Majed Faraj.
Sources briefed on the meeting told Ravid the Israeli side stressed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu objects to any official involvement of the Palestinian Authority in the Rafah crossing.
At the same time, the Israelis pressed Abbas' senior aides to agree to send their people to the crossing in an unofficial capacity, the sources said. The PA side rejected that proposal.
The White House, the Shin Bet and al-Sheikh declined to comment.