Sick and wounded Palestinians leave Gaza as Rafah crossing reopens

After being closed for eight months, the Rafah border crossing has reopened, and 37 sick and injured Palestinians have left Gaza for medical treatment in Egypt. The World Health Organization (WHO) stated on X that the group included 34 children and 3 adults, along with 39 accompanying persons, who have departed Gaza for medical care in Egypt. This crossing is a crucial passage between Gaza and Egypt, and it has been closed since Israeli forces took control of the Gaza side last May.

This reopening is part of a ceasefire and hostage deal between Hamas and Israel. Footage of the evacuations showed Palestinian children lying on stretchers as ambulances arrived at the border crossing. "We have been anxiously waiting for this day," Mai Kadah Abdel-Ghani told BBC Arabic's Gaza Today, whose son, Motasem Billah Rami Nabil Samour, suffers from a rare autoimmune disease. She said her son had been in intensive care at Nasser Hospital in Gaza and had been in severe pain for the past three months.

"Thank God his name was included on the referral list for treatment. I hope that after receiving proper treatment, his suffering will end," she said. Her son expressed that he had been in severe pain while waiting for his referral to a hospital in Egypt. "It's very difficult for me to move, I have ulcers in my mouth, it is difficult to eat, drink, everything," he said. Mohammed Abu Jalala was also among those accompanying relatives for treatment. He said his niece, Lara Abu Jalala, had suffered severe injuries to her feet in an explosion, and her parents and brother were killed in the blast.

"One foot was severely injured and had to be amputated. We tried to avoid amputation, but due to gangrene in the foot bones, it had to be amputated," he said. "The other foot is still injured and needs treatment, and the amputation also needs follow-up treatment." Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the West Bank and Gaza, described the evacuation process as "orderly" and "slow" in an interview with the BBC at the crossing. "Ambulances are moving one after another, first the non-ambulatory patients, then the ambulatory patients and accompanying persons. They will be checked and then transferred to the Egyptian side," he said.

He estimated that 14,000 people need treatment that is not available in Gaza. The WHO estimates that half of these patients have injuries that are "related to war and trauma, including amputees, burns, spinal cord injuries, which require multiple surgeries and specialized rehabilitation," he said, adding that the other half have chronic illnesses. "We expect about 5,000 of them to be children." The EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said on Friday that the EU had deployed a monitoring mission at the crossing. "It will support the Palestinian border personnel and allow people to leave Gaza, including those in need of medical care," she wrote on X.

The Rafah crossing is the southernmost exit from Gaza. There are only two other border crossings in the Gaza Strip – Erez, a personnel crossing in northern Gaza to Israel, and Kerem Shalom, a purely commercial goods crossing in southern Gaza with Israel. The Hamas-run health ministry says more than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's military offensive in Gaza. The offensive was launched after a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 people taken hostage.

The reopening of the Rafah crossing comes amid the fourth release of hostages and exchange of prisoners between Israel and Hamas since the ceasefire on January 19. Israel released 183 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in exchange for three Israeli hostages – Yarden Bibas, Ofer Calderon and Keith Siegel.