The Israeli military has acknowledged in a briefing to Israeli journalists that approximately 70,000 Palestinians were killed during the war in Gaza and that the figures from the health ministry in the enclave are largely accurate,

The crossing has been under a near complete closure since Israel seized it in May 2024, saying the step was part of a strategy to halt cross-border arms smuggling by Hamas. It was briefly opened for the evacuation of medical patients during a short-lived ceasefire in early 2025.