Nitzana Border Crossing

Nitzana Crossing

معبر نيتسانا
מעבר ניצנה‎
Nitzana Crossing; معبر نيتسانا; מעבר ניצנה‎
	Nitzana Border Crossing (on the Egyptian side)
Coordinates	30°52′56″N 34°23′40″E / 30.8822°N 34.3944°E
Carries	Containers
Crosses	Border between Egypt and Israel
Locale	Abu Ujaylah, Egypt; Nitzana, Israel
Official name	Nitzana Border Crossing; מעבר ניצנה‎; معبر نيتسانا;
Maintained by	Arab Republic of Egypt; Israel Airports Authority
Characteristics
Total length	200 metres (Israeli side)
Width	45 metres (Israeli side)
Statistics
Daily traffic	16 vehicles in 2005
Toll	₪101.00 (Outbound Israel)
Location

The Nitzana Border Crossing (Arabic: معبر نيتسانا, Hebrew: מעבר ניצנה), also called the Eliav Border Crossing (Hebrew: מעבר לובה אליאב), is an international border crossing between El Ouga in Egypt and Nitzana in Israel. 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 and the Rafah Border Crossing in Rafah, the Israelis decided to shut down the crossing to tourists.^{[citation needed]} There is talk of possibly reopening the crossing to tourists now that the Rafah crossing is no longer in Israeli control.^[when?]^{[needs update]}

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.^[1]

Israel Gaza war

During the early stages of the Gaza war, the border crossing was used to inspect aid bound for the Gaza Strip. While cargo was inspected at Nitzana, trucks then drove 50 kilometres (31 mi) to the Rafah Border Crossing to enter Gaza from Egypt.^[2] On 2 February 2024, Israeli protesters blocked the crossing to prevent humanitarian aid from entering Gaza.^[3] On 11 April 2024, the Israeli police arrested protesters at the Nitzana Crossing who tried to block aid from reaching Palestinian civilians in Gaza.^[4]

On 2 June 2023, a trooper of the Central Security Forces 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.^[5]^[6]^[7]

Terminals

Egypt

The Egyptian terminal is accessible via the Ismaïlia-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's central bus station.