• Israeli strikes kill five Palestinians in Gaza
• Hamas condemns US sanctions on non-government organisations

DAVOS: Gaza’s border crossing with Egypt will reopen next week after largely being shut during the Israel-Hamas war, the Palestinian technocrat leader backed by Washington to administer the enclave announced on Thursday.

Ali Shaath made the announcement by video link during an event in Davos hosted by President Donald Trump, who convened a group of leaders to formally launch a “Board of Peace” initially focused on cementing Gaza’s ceasefire.

A key unfulfilled element of the ceasefire, brokered by Trump in October, has been the reopening of Gaza’s main gateway to the world to allow the entry and exit of Palestinians.

“I am pleased to announce the Rafah crossing will open next week in both directions. For Palestinians in Gaza, Rafah is more than a gate. It is a lifeline and symbol of opportunity,” Shaath said.

“Opening Rafah signals that Gaza is no longer closed to the future and to the war,” Shaath said.

There was no immediate comment from Israel, which has controlled the Rafah crossing since 2024. The ceasefire deal left Israel in control of more than half of Gaza, including the area that abuts the border crossing. Hamas controls the remainder of the enclave.

Israeli strikes kill five

In the Gaza Strip, health officials said Israeli air strikes on Thursday killed five people in the enclave. There was no immediate Israeli comment on the violence, the latest to fray the October truce accord. Israel has continued to carry out air and artillery strikes in Gaza.

Health officials at Al Shifa Hos­pital, Gaza’s largest, said four Pale­stinians were killed by Israeli tank shelling in the Zeitoun suburb of eastern Gaza City. A fifth person was killed by Israeli fire in Khan Yunis in the south, health officials said.

A day earlier, Israeli fire killed 11 people including two boys and three journalists, health officials said.

On Thursday, Palestinians in Gaza held funerals for the three journalists, who press advocates said had been using a drone to film tents housing displaced people.

US sanctions on NGOs

Hamas on Thursday condemned as “unjust” a move by the United States to sanction Palestinian associations which Washington accused of having links to the movement.

The US on Wednesday imposed sanctions on six nonprofit organisations working in the Gaza Strip, which the Treasury Department said “claim to provide medical care to Palestinian civilians but in fact support the military wing of Hamas”.

It also announced sanctions on a group of Palestinians involved in civilian flotillas that aim to break Israel’s sea blockade on Gaza to bring in humanitarian aid.

The Treasury Department said the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad has been “a main organiser” of the flotillas and charged that it was “clandestinely acting on behalf of Hamas”.

“We view these decisions as unjust and oppressive,” Hamas said in a statement, suggesting the sanctions were incited by Israel as a fight against the Palestinian “national cause”.

All the organisations were accused of “secret ties to Hamas” in the US Treasury statement. The sanctions will block any assets the groups have in the United States and criminalise transactions with them.

Hamas called on Washington to walk back its decision.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2026