The Nitzana Border Crossing (, ), also called the Eliav Border Crossing (), is an international border crossing between El Ouga in Egypt and Nitzana in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. Opened in 1982, the crossing used to handle pedestrians as well as private cars but as most of the crossing was being done via the Taba Border Crossing in

Eilat Eilat ( , ; ; ) is Israel's southernmost city, with a population of , a busy port of Eilat, port and popular resort at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on what is known in Israel as the Gulf of Eilat and in Jordan as the Gulf of Aqaba. The c ...

and the

Rafah Border Crossing The Rafah Border Crossing () or Rafah Crossing Point is the sole crossing point between Egypt and Palestine's Gaza Strip. The Rafah crossing was opened by Israel after the Egypt–Israel peace treaty, 1979 peace treaty and remained under Isra ...

Rafah Rafah ( ) is a city in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestine, and the capital of the Rafah Governorate. It is located south-west of Gaza City. In 2017, Rafah had a population of 171,889. Due to the Gaza war, about 1.4 million people from Gaza C ...

, the Israelis decided to shut down the crossing to tourists. There is talk of possibly reopening the crossing to tourists now that the Rafah crossing is no longer in Israeli control. Today the terminal handles only commercial trade between the two nations. The terminal is open from Sunday to Thursday, 8:00 to 17:00. It is closed from Friday to Saturday as well as Jewish and Islamic holidays. In February 2013, the crossing was named after Aryeh Eliav, who among other things founded the nearby Nitzana Youth Village.

Israel Gaza war

During the early stages of the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

, the border crossing was used to inspect aid bound for the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

. While cargo was inspected at Nitzana, trucks then drove to the

to enter Gaza from Egypt. On 2 February 2024, Israeli protesters blocked the crossing to prevent humanitarian aid from entering Gaza. On 11 April 2024, the Israeli police arrested protesters at the Nitzana Crossing who tried to block aid from reaching Palestinian civilians in Gaza. On 2 June 2023, a trooper of the

Central Security Forces The General Security and Central Security Forces (, often shortened to ) is an Egyptian paramilitary force which is responsible for assisting the Egyptian National Police (ENP) for the security of governmental fixed sites, foreign embassies & m ...

crossed over the Egypt–Israel border into Israeli territory around the Nitzana Border Crossing, shooting three Israeli soldiers dead and injuring two others before he was killed in a shootout with the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

Terminals

Egypt

The Egyptian terminal is accessible via the

Ismaïlia Ismailia ( ', ) is a city in north-eastern Egypt. Situated on the west bank of the Suez Canal, it is the capital of the Ismailia Governorate. The city had an estimated population of about 1,434,741 according to the statistics issued by the Ce ...

- Abu Ujaylah highway in Shamal Sina' (North Sinai).

Israel

The Israeli border terminal can be reached via Route 211, which ends at Nitzana Border Crossing, and Highway 10, which passes alongside the crossing. The border terminal can also be reached by Metropoline bus number 44 from

Beersheba Beersheba ( / ; ), officially Be'er-Sheva, is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the centre of the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth-most p ...

's central bus station.

References

External links

; Official
Nitzana Border Terminal info
{{Coord, 30, 52, 56, N, 34, 23, 40, E, type:city_scale:10000, display=title Egypt–Israel border crossings Toll bridges 1982 establishments in Egypt 1982 establishments in Israel