Only five medical migrants Gaza was allowed to leave and only 12 Palestinians were allowed to return to the war-torn territory due to delays imposed by Israeli authorities. Rafah border crossing Finally reopened with Egypt.
The long-awaited reopening of the territory’s southern border crossing with Egypt on Monday was expected to ease the more than 18-month military siege on Gaza.
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Instead, Israeli officials continued strict security restrictions and a complex bureaucratic process that allowed only a small number of people to travel in either direction – leaving or entering Gaza – and prevented goods from passing freely through the border gates.
The number of people allowed to pass through the Rafah crossing – five sick patients leaving Gaza for treatment abroad and 12 returning home on Monday – is far less than the 50 people Israeli authorities have promised to allow in each direction.
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City early on Tuesday, said the reopening of the crossing was a long time coming and the results were far less than promised.
“This is coming after many days of waiting,” Mahmood said.
“They were expected to enter the Gaza Strip in the last few hours, but they were held back for several hours and this is due to the long security clearance process set up by the Israeli army at the Rafah crossing,” he said.
“We expected 50 Palestinians to return to the Gaza Strip from Egypt during the day, and the same was expected of family members in the Gaza Strip,” he added.
Instead, a bus carrying 12 people, the first of its kind to enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing in more than 18 months, brought home the first group of people early Tuesday.
Among the many restrictions imposed on the crossing by Israeli authorities is that only people who left Gaza during the war are being re-entered through Rafah after going through a rigorous security clearance process.
It is estimated that only five Palestinian patients were allowed to leave the Strip through the crossing on Monday 20,000 children and adults According to Gaza health officials, people in dire need of medical care are waiting to be flown to the Gaza side of the border for medical treatment in Egypt and elsewhere.
Ambulances lined up at the border for hours on Monday, ready to transport Palestinian patients across the border, Egypt’s state-run Al-Cahra news channel showed.
Al Jazeera’s Tarek Abu Ajjoum, reporting from Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, spoke to Randa Abu Mustafa, whose son lost the sight in both eyes due to injuries sustained in the war on Israeli territory. He was among the lucky five patients who were approved for discharge on Monday.
Another woman, Shima Abu Rida, told Al Jazeera that her daughter, Joumana, had been seriously injured in an Israeli airstrike and was still anxiously waiting to go.
“Streams of people are lining up hoping to get to Egypt. But with 20,000 patients awaiting approval, most will be disappointed,” Al Jazeera’s Abu Azzoom said.
And while much-needed medicine and humanitarian supplies are still blocked, Palestinian lives remain “at the mercy” of Israel, he said.
Tom Fletcher, the UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said the partial reopening of the Rafah crossing was insufficient, stressing that the border post should serve as a de facto humanitarian corridor. Deliver life-saving aid.
Qatar, which helped negotiate a “ceasefire” agreement that Israel has been violating at will, welcomed the opening of the Rafah crossing as a “step in the right direction”.
In a statement, the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on Israel to fully implement the agreement “to ensure the sustainable and unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid to the Strip.”
“The Ministry renews Qatar’s stable and permanent position in support of the Palestinian cause and the resilience of the brotherly Palestinian people, based on international legal resolutions and the two-state solution, which guarantees the establishment of an independent Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem annexed as its capital.”
Before Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, Rafah was the main crossing for people going in and out of the enclave.
A handful of other crossings in the region are all shared with Israel, while Rafah, which connects to Egypt, was captured by Israeli forces during the May 2024 war.
Violence continued throughout the region On Monday, Israeli strikes killed at least three Palestinians in central and northern Gaza.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that an Israeli drone bombed an area near a funeral gathering in Nuserat in central Gaza, killing two people and injuring several others.
Israeli forces killed a Palestinian in the Halawa camp in the town of Jabaliya in northern Gaza.
The latest death toll in Gaza since October 2023 has risen to at least 71,800, with 171,555 wounded, according to Palestinian health officials.