Gaza's Rafah crossing with Egypt reopened on Monday for the movement of residents in both directions, Egyptian and Israeli security officials said.

According to officials, entry and exit for civilians began Monday after the initial pilot operation was coordinated with Egypt and a European Union delegation overseeing the Gaza side of the crossing.

The reopening will be limited, with Israel requiring security checks for Palestinians entering and exiting. Both Israel and Egypt are expected to cap the number of travelers, with an Egyptian official noting that 50 Palestinians would cross in each direction on the first day. Palestinians holding prior Israeli security approval and those who left Gaza during the war will be permitted to pass, with organized bus transport to the crossing.

A diplomatic source said on Sunday that the entry of people through the crossing depends on receiving a list of residents who have received Israeli permission to enter.

Palestinian sources in the Gaza Strip told Haaretz that despite the announcement of the opening of the crossing, residents have not been given concrete information about its use. It is not clear who will be able to leave the Strip and when, the sources added.

Due to Egypt's demand, exiting the crossing will initially only be allowed for the sick and wounded with their accompanying persons. On Friday, a source in the security establishment told Haaretz that approximately 150 people will be able to enter and exit through the crossing each day.

"Will civilians who are not defined as humanitarian cases also be allowed to leave?" wondered a source connected to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza — the technocratic committee founded by U.S. President Donald Trump's Board of Peace initiative, which will oversee daily life in Gaza.

"And what will happen to those returning from Egypt? Everything is still a mystery. It is not yet known whether the exit will be conditional on payments, as was the case during the war and even before it."

Departures will initially be limited to patients and the wounded, along with their escorts.

Another Palestinian source told Haaretz that Egypt insists that the crossing movement be two-way. According to him, Egypt demands that a balanced ratio be maintained between those leaving the Gaza Strip and those entering it — to avoid a situation in which hundreds of Palestinians leave Gaza for Egypt, but few move in the opposite direction.

According to estimates, there are currently about 80,000 Palestinians in Egypt, residents of Gaza with only Palestinian passports, and the authorities in Cairo believe that they should return to the Gaza Strip. "They have difficulty integrating into Egypt, the costs are high, and they also need to make a living. They have no option of immigrating to a third country — not in the Arab world, not in Europe, not in the United States. They would prefer to return to the Gaza Strip if serious reconstruction begins," the source said.

Palestinian Authority personnel will operate the Gaza side of the crossing under the supervision of the European Union Border Assistance Mission. Israel will establish a military checkpoint beyond the Gaza side, in line with Egypt's opposition to placing it at the border itself.

Two sources familiar with the details told Haaretz that Israel had asked the United States to deploy private U.S. security contractors at the crossing. One of the sources confirmed that Israel did not trust the EUBAM or the Palestinian force. According to the source, when the Rafah border facilitates the delivery of aid and equipment, Israel wants to "ensure it can trust" the authorities inspecting the border.

The reopening followed the return of the last Israeli hostage, Ran Gvili, whose body was found in Gaza and returned to Israel last week. Gvili was the last Israeli hostage held in the territory. The military said he was found in a mass grave in the Shujaiyeh area, based on intelligence received last week.

Israeli forces seized the crossing in May 2024, about nine months into the Gaza war. During the early months of the conflict, thousands of Palestinians fled through Rafah to Egypt, with estimates suggesting about 100,000 left Gaza since the war began. Following Israel's military operations, the crossing and the adjacent Philadelphi corridor were closed, cutting off a critical route for Palestinians needing medical treatment abroad. Over the past year, only a few thousand patients were allowed to leave via Israel, while thousands more remain in urgent need, according to the United Nations.

Despite the reopening, Israel continues to bar foreign journalists from entering Gaza, a restriction in place since the start of the war. The Foreign Press Association has petitioned Israel's Supreme Court to allow journalists access, arguing that the public is being denied vital information. Israeli authorities maintain that journalists' entry could endanger both soldiers and reporters, even though aid and UN workers have been granted passage.

The reopening is a key part of the first phase of U.S. President Donald Trump's broader Gaza plan, which envisions governance by Palestinian technocrats, disarmament by Hamas, and Israeli withdrawal while the territory is rebuilt.

However, Israel remains skeptical about Hamas's willingness to disarm, and some officials warn that military operations could resume. Since the October cease-fire, Israeli strikes in Gaza have killed more than 500 Palestinians, while militants have killed four Israeli soldiers.

1984, Jet Set Willy was released. A great game that every kid at school wanted. Of course we all wanted a copy, but it cost £8 here in the UK, which was several weeks' pocket money.

Copying games then involved finding a kid whose Dad was seriously into Hifi and had a stackable stereo system, then we'd copy it with their tape to tape system. But JSW had this as the cassette inlay.

How this works? When the game loaded after about 10-15 minutes, it would ask what colours were in Grid square A5, or H9 etc. Get it wrong twice and the game would exit and you'd need to start over.

(If you're wondering what happens if you're colour blind - you could write to the publishers and if they accepted your complaint, they would ask you to send them the game and would give you a cheque to cover the refund)

Of course, kids are determined and inventive, and this was well before photocopiers or digital cameras, so we would spend our lunchtimes with pencil and paper writing down every single combination...

It was a good game, with some great music, but really really hard.

(Credit to intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue45/… for the picture, and the page also goes into more depth)