In 1979, Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty that eventually returned the Sinai, which borders the Gaza Strip, to Egyptian control.

When Israel withdrew from the Sinai in 1982, Rafah was divided into an Egyptian and a Palestinian part, splitting up families, separated by barbed-wire barriers.

[15] The Palestinians agreed that all imports of goods are diverted to the Kerem Shalom border crossing, because Israel threatened to exclude Gaza from the customs union out of concern about the implementation of the Paris Protocol.

Diversion via Kerem was meant as a temporary measure but in fact, imports through Rafah were never realized, forcing the Palestinians to develop a smuggling tunnels economy.

[15] On 26 November 2005, the crossing was opened for the first time under the European Union's supervision, while the Israeli army kept a video watch from a nearby base and retained control over the movement of all goods and trade in and out of Gaza.

[22] On 25 June 2006, terrorists attacked the Kerem Shalom Crossing Point and captured the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

[23] On 12 February 2007, PLO Negotiatior Saeb Erekat complained in a letter to the Israeli Government and the Head of the EU Mission about Israel, closing the Rafah Crossing Point (RCP) on most days by indirect measures, such as "preventing access by the EU BAM to the RCP through Kerem Shalom".

[24] A 2007 Palestinian background paper mentions the EU concern over crises, "most often caused by the continual Israeli closure of the Crossing".

Due to the lack of security the EU monitors pulled out of the region, and Egypt agreed with Israel to shut down the Rafah Crossing.

After the resulting Breach of the Gaza-Egypt border, many thousands of Palestinians, with estimates ranging from 200,000 to 700,000, crossed into Egypt to buy goods.

[31] On 27 June 2009, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh proposed a joint Palestinian, Egyptian and European mechanism to keep the Rafah border crossing working permanently.

[26] Gisha has blamed Israel for keeping the Rafah Crossing closed through indirect means and Egypt for submitting to Israeli pressure and not cooperate with the Hamas government.

[26] The Egyptian government under former President Mubarak had opposed the Hamas administration in Gaza and helped Israel to enforce the blockade.

[35][36] Soon after the revolution, Egypt's foreign minister, Nabil el-Araby, opened discussions with Hamas aimed at easing the travel restrictions and improving relations between the two.

[39] In July 2013, in the aftermath of the overthrow of Mohamed Morsi, the border crossing was closed for several days by the Egyptian Army.

After widespread unrest in Egypt and the bloody crackdown on loyalists of ousted President Morsi on 14 August, the border crossing was closed 'indefinitely'.

[41] After the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, Egypt declared that it was prepared to train forces from the Presidential Guard to man the Rafah Crossing and deploy along the border.

[42] Palestinian factions in Gaza, including Hamas, publicly declared their acceptance of the return of the Presidential Guard and the EU border mission.

[41] Hamas had agreed to let the Presidential Guard to take charge, as part of a comprehensive plan to merge employees from West Bank and Gaza Strip.

As of July 2019, tens of thousands have reportedly done so, departing to destinations in the Arab world or Turkey, and some seeking refuge in Europe (particularly Belgium and Norway).

[48] In March 2020, Palestinian authorities closed the crossing to limit the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19 to the Gaza Strip.

[49] In early November 2020, Egyptian authorities closed the crossing to vehicles and commodities after monitoring violations by Hamas.

Various sources reported that for several weeks, the Egyptian government had refused to allow either Gazans or foreign nationals to exit Gaza via the Rafah crossing,[55][56] despite intensive international efforts to secure a window of time for the Rafah crossing to open to foreigners who want to exit the Strip.

[61] On 1 November, a limited number of foreign nationals and wounded began being allowed to use the crossing to exit Gaza.