The Rafah crossing was opened by Israel after the 1979 peace treaty and remained under Israeli control until 2005, when it was transferred to Egyptian, Palestinian Authority, and EU control, giving Palestinians partial control of an international border for the first time.

In 2007, a year after Hamas won the only election held in Gaza, the EU withdrew, and Israeli belligerent and Egypt imposed a complete blockade, effectively sealing Gaza. Since then, the Rafah crossing has only opened intermittently for Palestinian movement.

In October 2023 with the start of Netanyahu's war, the crossing was again effectively sealed. 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, despite intensive international efforts to secure a window of time for the Rafah crossing to open to foreigners who want to exit the Strip. However, the Egyptian government, maintains that it has always kept the Rafah Border Crossing open for humanitarian aid coming in and foreign nationals coming out during Netanyahu's war, instead blaming four consecutive Israeli air strikes on the Gazan side for keeping the border crossing closed. On October 21, 2023, the border opened for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. On November 1, 2023, a limited number of foreign nationals and wounded began being allowed to use the crossing to exit Gaza.

On May 6, 2024, Netanyahu opened the offensive on Rafah by the attack on an encampment of makeshift shelters just north of Rafah city, in an area called Tal as-Sultan. It came after United States President Joe Biden said a “major offensive” by Israel on Rafah would be a red line.

The crossing is part of the Philadelphia Corridor, and is the Israeli code name for a narrow strip of land, some 100 meters wide and 14 km (8.7 miles) long, situated along the entirety of the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. It was designated as a demilitarized border zone after the withdrawal of Israeli settlements and troops from Gaza in 2005 and runs from the Mediterranean to the Karam Abu Salem crossing with colonized historic Palestine.

The crossing was seized in 2024 during the Rafah offensive. Hamas has rejected any Israeli presence, while Netanyahu has insisted that Israel will not abandon the corridor. Israeli troops are in the Gaza-side of the Rafah crossing. They are keeping that side closed, while managing to spread the blame on Egypt, that Cairo is keeping the crossing closed.