January 22, 2025 | Flash Brief

‘Outside Overseers’: Gaza Ceasefire Crossing Points Crafted

January 22, 2025 | Flash Brief

‘Outside Overseers’: Gaza Ceasefire Crossing Points Crafted

Latest Developments

  • Tentative Rafah Reopening: Pushing back against Arab media reports of a deal to hand over control of the Rafah crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border to the Palestinian Authority (PA), Israel said on January 22 that the PA’s current role there is limited to stamping travelers’ passports. The main staff at the crossing are vetted Gazans with no links to Hamas who are, in turn, overseen by European Union Border Assistance Mission in Rafah (EUBAM) monitors, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said. The office added that the current arrangement will remain throughout the first, six-week-long phase of the Gaza ceasefire that commenced on January 19 and will be subject to review.
  • Witkoff to Visit: President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said on January 22 that he will visit Israel and Gaza to assess progress in the ceasefire he helped broker. His tour of the Palestinian enclave will include inspections of the IDF-controlled Netzarim and Philadelphi corridors, he told Fox News, adding: “That’s where you have outside overseers, sort of making sure that people are safe and people who are entering are not armed, and no one has bad motivations.”
  • No ‘Palestinian State’ Guarantee to Saudi Arabia: Witkoff also said that sustaining the ceasefire will help the Trump administration bring other Arab countries into the Abraham Accords with Israel. Jerusalem has made “no promise regarding the establishment of a Palestinian state, at all” as part of efforts to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia, Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer said in the Knesset on January 22. He appeared to skirt further public discussion of such diplomacy, noting that on the eve of the 2020 Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, only a handful of Israelis — himself among them — knew about the landmark deal. Riyadh has long said that it needs to see the Palestinians on a path to statehood before it can forge ties with the Jewish state.

FDD Expert Analysis

“There are growing indications that the Trump administration is seeking to build momentum around the Gaza truce — not only to ensure its durability but also to leverage it into a regional breakthrough, such as an Israeli-Saudi peace accord. This is a commendable and ambitious goal, as it would further isolate Hamas and other hardline Palestinian terrorist groups. However, the allure of grand diplomacy must not overshadow Israel’s immediate priorities: securing the safe return of as many Hamas-held hostages as possible, as quickly as possible, and ensuring that the terrorist group is decisively and permanently neutralized.” Mark Dubowitz, CEO

“Even if Israel is not formally allowing the entry of the PA into Gaza, it is seeking local alternatives to Hamas — and, apparently, succeeding in small measure. The big test will be whether Rafah can function like a normal border crossing point without any attempt to reconstitute the underground smuggling tunnels that Hamas long used there for unloading trucks carrying contraband weaponry in from Egypt.” — Joe Truzman, Senior Research Analyst and Editor at FDD’s Long War Journal

FDD Background and Analysis

10 Things to Know About the Palestinian Authority,” FDD Insight

IDF Finds Terror Tunnel Near Rafah Crossing,” FDD Flash Brief

The Palestinian Authority Can’t Govern Gaza After the War,” by Hussain Abdul-Hussain

Issues:

Issues:

Egypt Gulf States Israel Israel at War Palestinian Politics

Topics:

Topics:

Israel Middle East Hamas Palestinians Jewish people Saudi Arabia Egypt Arabs Donald Trump Israel Defense Forces Gaza City Jerusalem Mark Dubowitz Benjamin Netanyahu Palestinian National Authority United Arab Emirates Riyadh Bahrain Rafah State of Palestine Fox News Abraham Accords Knesset Philadelphi Corridor Ron Dermer Netzarim Steve Witkoff