JERUSALEM — More than a decade after being run out of Gaza by Hamas, the Palestinian Authority on Wednesday took control of the enclave’s border crossings, the most tangible sign yet of progress in the deal to end a bitter schism between the groups and ease the territory’s suffocating isolation.

For years, as Hamas and Fatah, which dominates the Palestinian Authority, explored reconciliation, one of the major stumbling blocks was security at the crossings. So it was a significant moment when Hamas formally handed control to the authority at a morning ceremony at the Rafah passenger crossing on the Egyptian border.

The Palestinian and Egyptian national anthems were played. The crossing was festooned with large portraits of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt and the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, who has not set foot in Gaza since Hamas took over there after routing his forces in 2007.

The Palestinian Authority is internationally recognized whereas Hamas, the Islamic militant group, is classified as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and much of the West. With Palestinian Authority oversight of the border crossings, Gaza’s two million residents are now hoping for a significant easing of the blockade that Israel and Egypt imposed citing security concerns, severely restricting the movement of people and goods.