The Nitzana Border Crossing (Arabic: معبر نيتسانا, Hebrew: מעבר ניצנה) 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 most of the crossing was being done via the Taba Border Crossing in Eilat and the Rafah Border Crossing in Rafah that 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.
During the early stages of the 2023 Israel–Hamas 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]
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.
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