 "50 injured Gazans enter Egypt for treatment via Rafah border crossing")
The Rafah border crossing was reopened on Saturday after it was shut down in May 2024, allowing the movement of injured Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt. The crossing is a vital entry point for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza but the Israeli military seized the Palestinian side of it last year.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said that 50 patients and 53 companions crossed the border on February 1 to receive treatment in Egypt.
“From the medical files, 50 were approved by Egypt. We hope for this number to increase,” said Muhammad Zaqout, the director of Gaza hospitals.
“We now have 6,000 cases ready to be transferred, and more than 12,000 cases that are in dire need of treatment.”
Last Monday the European Union agreed to restart its monitoring mission at the Rafah crossing, with 18 EU and local personnel including a police security detachment from Italy, Spain and France.
“The mission was launched at the request of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, with the full support of Egypt,” the Italian government said in a statement which added the “primary objective is to coordinate and facilitate the daily transit of up to 300 wounded and sick”.
Hamas releases 3 hostages
Hostages Yarden Bibas, Keith Siegel and Ofer Kalderon were freed by the Palestinian terrorist group on Saturday, in the fourth such prisoner-hostage release under the Gaza ceasefire deal.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants have so far handed over 18 hostages to the International Committee of the Red Cross in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, many of them women and minors.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsMeanwhile, three other buses carrying freed Palestinians also arrived in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, with the inmates in grey prison uniforms met by hundreds of well-wishers.
In Ramallah, the bus carrying the inmates struggled to make its way through the jubilant throng of supporters as it arrived from the Israeli-run Ofer Prison.
With inputs from AFP
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