RAFAH (Palestinian Territories), Nov 10 — The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt reopened yesterday to allow a limited number of wounded people and foreign passport holders to flee the war, a Palestinian official told AFP.
The vast majority of Gaza’s 2.4 million residents are unable to escape the conflict, which erupted between the territory’s Hamas rulers and Israel on October 7.
The crossing’s media director on the Palestinian side said Rafah “reopened to transfer the wounded, for foreign nationals to leave and aid trucks to enter”.
An AFP photographer on the Egyptian side saw people on stretchers being transferred into ambulances, as well as children and adults walking across the border.
Crossings were suspended for the second time on Wednesday due to Israel refusing to approve the list of wounded people to be evacuated, which had been sent by the Hamas government to Egypt.
The route was previously shut on November 3 and 4 for the same reason.
More than 2,000 people with foreign passports have entered Egypt this month, according to the Palestinian crossings authority.
Over the same period, 107 wounded, 13 people with cancer and 90 patient companions have been able to leave Gaza.
The health ministry warned Thursday the evacuations were happening too slowly.
“A large number of the serious cases must leave urgently, before they lose their lives while waiting,” a ministry statement said.
Some 26,905 people have been wounded during the war in Gaza and 10,812 killed, the majority civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Israel has relentlessly hit Gaza with strikes following the October 7 attacks by Hamas militants, which killed more than 1,400 people, most civilians, according to Israeli officials. — AFP
