Israeli flag at Rafah crossing
Israeli flag at Rafah crossingIDF Spokesperson's Unit

The White House is set to hold a trilateral meeting between US, Egyptian and Israeli officials in Cairo next week to discuss the reopening of the Rafah crossing and a plan for securing the border between Egypt and Gaza, three US and Israeli officials told Barak Ravid of Axios on Thursday.

A plan for reopening the crossing, preventing Hamas from smuggling weapons into the Strip from Egypt and maintaining a tenuous peace between Israel and Egypt are top priorities for the Biden administration.

The administration also views Egypt as a key player in any post-war plan for the stabilization and reconstruction of Gaza.

According to Ravid’s report, a US delegation headed by the senior director for the Middle East at the White House National Security Council Terry Wolff is expected to travel to Egypt in the coming days.

The trip was agreed on during a phone call last Friday between Biden and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.

During the call, Sisi agreed to Biden's request to resume the flow of aid trucks into Gaza through Israel, after deliveries were halted two weeks ago in protest of Israel's takeover of the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing.

A US official said Biden told Sisi that if the delivery of aid trucks wasn't resumed, the US would publicly criticize Egypt for it.

He promised the Egyptian President that if the flow of aid was resumed, the US would work to reopen the Rafah crossing as soon as possible, the US official said.

The White House wants to hold a trilateral meeting between Wolf and his delegation, representatives of the Egyptian military and intelligence service and the Israeli delegation, the officials said.

Israel has presented Egypt with a plan for reopening the crossing with the involvement of the United Nations and Palestinian representatives from Gaza who are not connected to Hamas, according to Axios.

As part of the possible plan, the IDF would redeploy outside of the crossing and secure it from the outside against Hamas attacks.

Earlier this week, Kan 11 News reported that Israel is discussing with the United States and Egypt the issue of the Rafah crossing and its operation after the war, with estimates being that, in the initial phase the crossing will be operated by Palestinian Arab elements not related to the Palestinian Authority or Hamas,

According to the report, the parties are interested in the crossing being operated by European entities in the future, but this may take some time.