The Rafah border crossing reopened on Saturday, February11, 2025, for the first time since May 2024 to allow Palestinian patients to cross over from Gaza to Egypt to receive medical treatment
Israeli forces closed the Rafah crossing in May 2024 after seizing it. Egypt followed suit by shutting down its side of the passage in protest.
Even prior to the Gaza war, Palestinians relied on the crossing heavily, routinely applying for permission to travel outside the territory for lifesaving treatments not available in enclave, including chemotherapy.
Israel has long accused Hamas of using its control of the border to smuggle weapons – a claim Egypt has denied
The Gaza health ministry stated that 50 Palestinian patients have left through the Rafah border crossing to Egypt.
Egyptian television showed a Palestinian Red Cross ambulance pulling up to the crossing gate, and several children brought out on stretchers and transferred to ambulances on the Egyptian side.
The reopening of the Rafah crossing represents a significant breakthrough that bolsters the ceasefire deal Israel and Hamas agreed to earlier this month.
Israel agreed to reopen the crossing after Hamas released the last living female captives in Gaza.
The children are the first in what are meant to be regular evacuations of Palestinians through the crossing for treatment abroad.
Mohammed Zaqout, the Director of hospitals in Gaza’s Health Ministry, said more than 6,000 patients were ready to be evacuated abroad, and more than 12,000 patients were in urgent need of treatment.
He said the small numbers set to be evacuated will not cover the need, “and we hope the number will increase.”
In Israel’s 15-month war on the enclave following Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Gaza’s health sector has been decimated, leaving most of its hospitals out of operation.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians wounded by Israel’s bombardment and ground offensives faced a huge gap in medical care.
Hamas Releases Three Israeli Captives In Exchange For 183 Palestinians
The opening also comes on the heels of Hamas releasing three Israeli captives in Gaza earlier Saturday in exchange for more than 180 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
French-Israeli dual national Ofer Kalderon and Israeli citizen Yarden Bibas were handed over to the Red Cross in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis.
Over an hour later, American-Israeli dual national Keith Siegel was handed over to Red Cross officials in Gaza City in the northern part of the enclave.
Earlier on Saturday, hundreds of Hamas fighters were seen lining up and managing the crowd in both Khan Younis and Gaza City, as Israeli captives Kalderon, Bibas and Siegel waved to the crowd of Palestinians during the handover.
The three captives have reached Israel, where they will undergo an initial medical check-up before meeting their families.
As soon as the three Israeli captives reached Israel, the process to free 183 Palestinian prisoners began in fourth such exchange under the ceasefire deal entered on January 19. At least 73 of these Palestinians had been serving long-time prison terms and lifetime sentences.
The first bus carrying a group of 32 Palestinians from Israel’s Ofer prison reached Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, where they were greeted by jubilant relatives. Among those released was an unnamed elderly Palestinian, who was transported in a wheelchair.
Of the 183 Palestinians to be released on Saturday, 111 were taken by Israeli forces in Gaza after October 7, 2023. They will be released separately in Gaza and seven of them will be deported elsewhere through Egypt.
There are an estimated 4,500 Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli prisons – 310 of them held under the so-called “administrative detention” without the right to a trial.
READ ALSO: Starmer Faces Tory Backlash Over China Security Exemption
