Gaza’s Rafah border crossing, a main entry and exit point for the territory, has reopened after eight months to allow sick and wounded Palestinians to cross over into Egypt to receive medical treatment.
Fifty patients, including children with cancer, had entered Egypt to access medical care, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
The crossing had been closed since Israeli forces took control of the Gaza side in May last year.
The key gateway, a vital conduit for aid, has reopened as part of a ceasefire and hostage deal between Hamas and Israel.
Footage of the evacuees shows Palestinian children in stretchers and ambulances arriving at the border crossing.
“We have been waiting for this day impatiently,” Mai Khader Abdul Ghani, whose son, Moatasem Billah Rami Nabil Sammour, has a rare autoimmune disease, told BBC Arabic’s Gaza Today.
She said her son was placed in intensive care at Gaza’s Nasser Hospital and had been suffering from severe pain over the past three months.
“Thank God that his name was included in the referral for treatment. I hope that his suffering comes to an end after receiving the appropriate treatment,” she said.
She added that the treatment for the disease was not available in Gaza because of the closure of crossings, a medicine shortage and the general lack of healthcare.
Her son said he had been in great pain while waiting to be referred to a hospital in Egypt.
“I have severe difficulty moving, my mouth has ulcers, and I also have difficulty eating, drinking, and everything,” he said.
Mohammed Abu Jalala was also among those accompanying relatives crossing the border for medical treatment. He said his niece Lara Abu Jalala had suffered serious injuries to her feet after a bombing, which killed her parents and three brothers.
“One foot was so badly damaged that it had to be amputated. We tried to avoid the amputation, but it had to be performed as the foot had gangrene in the bone,” he said. “The other is still injured and needs treatment, and the amputation needs follow-up and treatment.”
Speaking to the BBC from the crossing, Dr Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization (WHO)’s representative for the West Bank and Gaza, described the evacuation as an “orderly” and “slow” process.
“The ambulances are going one by one, first with the non-walking patients, then walking patients and the companions. They’ll be checked and then moved on to the Egyptian side,” he said.
He estimates that 14,000 people need access to treatment they cannot get in Gaza.
WHO estimates that half of those patients’ injuries “are related to war and trauma injuries, amputees, burns, spinal injuries which will need multiple operations and specialised rehab,” he said, adding that the other half suffer from chronic diseases.
“Approximately 5,000 of them we expect to be children.”
The European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Friday that the bloc had deployed a monitoring mission at the crossing.
“It will support Palestinian border personnel and allow the transfer of individuals out of Gaza, including those who need medical care,” she wrote on X.
The Rafah crossing is the southernmost post of exit from Gaza. There are only two other border crossings from and into the Gaza Strip – Erez, a crossing into Israel in northern Gaza, which is for people, and Kerem Shalom, a solely commercial goods junction with Israel in southern Gaza.
More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, the Hamas-run health ministry says.
The offensive came after about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken back to Gaza as hostages when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023.
The reopening of the Rafah crossing came as Israel and Hamas carried out their fourth hostage release and prisoner swap since the ceasefire began on 19 January.
Israel released 183 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in exchange for three Israeli hostages – Yarden Bibas, Ofer Kalderon and Keith Siegel.
