Past

Gaza International Airport was planned under the 1995 Oslo II Interim Agreement (Annex I, Article XIII), establishing Palestinian civil aviation jurisdiction in the Rafah area. Infrastructure masterplanning and runway design specifications (3,080 m × 45 m) were prepared by Saleh & Hegab Engineering Consultants for the Palestinian Civil Aviation Authority, with construction supported by Palestinian Authority land contribution, soft loans, and international donor grants.

Gaza International Airport was officially opened on November 24, 1998, as inaugural aircraft arrived carrying Palestinian leadership and delegations to the new airfield, documented by contemporary news reports. Scheduled commercial passenger service commenced shortly thereafter in early December 1998. On December 14, 1998, U.S. President Bill Clinton and Chairman Yasser Arafat attended the official state ribbon-cutting ceremony and terminal dedication.

From late 1998 until regular flight schedules were disrupted in late 2000 and placed under continuous closure in early 2001, the airport served as the operational home base for Palestinian Airlines. According to World Bank transport documentation (Report No. 69315), the passenger terminal was designed for up to 700,000 passengers annually; during 1999, the airfield handled about 60,000 passengers across 1,168 flights, with about 41,000 passengers travelling on Palestinian Airlines on scheduled regional routes including Amman, Cairo, Jeddah, Dubai, Doha, Istanbul, and Larnaca, alongside services by regional airlines.

Following the outbreak of the Second Intifada in late September 2000, Israeli authorities closed the airport on October 8, 2000, followed by a brief reopening on October 19, beginning a period of intermittent closures. On February 25, 2001, authorities placed the airfield under continuous closure, as documented by UN reports. In December 2001, military air strikes destroyed the radar installation and control facilities, and in January 2002, military bulldozing tore up the runway, rendering the airfield inoperative. On March 13, 2002, the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) adopted a formal resolution strongly condemning the destruction of Gaza International Airport and its air navigation facilities.

Following the cessation of flight operations and subsequent destruction, the history of Gaza International Airport has been preserved through civic memory, legal records, and dated documentary imagery. A June 13, 2008 field photograph by Gisha Access records the damaged terminal walls and surviving architectural dome at Rafah, documenting the physical condition of the site years after its destruction.