The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip will reopen in both directions next week, the newly-appointed administrator of the Palestinian territory said on Thursday at the launch of US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace.
The reopening of the crossing is part of the Gaza truce plan announced by Trump in October, but it has remained closed so far.
"I am pleased to announce the Rafah crossing will open next week in both directions," Ali Shaath, a former Palestinian Authority deputy minister, said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
"For Palestinians in Gaza, Rafah is more than a gate; it is a lifeline and symbol of opportunity. Opening Rafah signals that Gaza is no longer closed to the future and the world," Shaath said.
As part of the truce plan, Shaath was named to head a committee of 15 Palestinian technocrats to oversee the day-to-day administration of Gaza.
Meanwhile, an Israeli air strike killed an AFP freelancer and two other journalists in Gaza on Wednesday, the territory's civil defence agency said, while the military said it struck "suspects" operating a drone.
Since October 10, a fragile US-sponsored ceasefire in Gaza has largely halted the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas, but both sides have alleged frequent violations.
In a statement, the civil defence said three journalists were killed in an Israeli air strike in the Al Zahra area southwest of Gaza City, naming the dead as Mohammed Salah Qashta, Abdul Raouf Shaat and Anas Ghneim.
Shaat had contributed regularly to AFP as a photo and video journalist, but at the time of the strike, he was not on assignment for the agency.
In a statement, AFP said it was mourning the loss of Shaat, who would be remembered as a "kind-hearted colleague, with a gentle sense of humour, and as a deeply committed journalist".
"AFP demands a full and transparent investigation into his death," it said.
"Far too many local journalists have been killed in Gaza over the past two years while foreign journalists remain unable to enter the territory freely," the agency added.
In a statement, the Israeli military said troops had "identified several suspects who operated a drone affiliated with Hamas in the central Gaza Strip".
The military did not elaborate on what it meant by a "drone affiliated with Hamas". "Due to the threat that the drone posed to the troops, the (Israeli military) precisely struck the suspects who activated the drone," it said, adding that the details were under review. - AFP
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