‘We couldn’t save her’: For some Rafah opening comes too late
Ibtisam Abu Ameera was just three years old. No one ever knew what illness she had. Gaza’s laboratories lacked the tools and tests needed to diagnose her condition. Days after her medical evacuation papers were finally approved, Ibtisam died.
“My daughter died three months ago and until today I don’t know what was wrong with her… We couldn’t save her life because the Rafah crossing was closed. Israel was isolating Gaza, blocking everything – medicine and lab tests,” her mother Ayesha told Al Jazeera.
Since Rafah was closed by the Israelis in 2024, at least 1,268 Palestinians have died in Gaza waiting for medical evacuation. Israel has said it will only allow 50 patients per day to leave Gaza. At that rate, it would take more than a year to clear the backlog – a year many patients don’t have.
“We lost many of our patients and children during this genocide because they were prevented from traveling for treatment abroad. We hear the crossing will reopen, and we hope we don’t lose more lives,” Dr Ziyad Kahlout told Al Jazeera.
UK says Israel must do much more with Rafah crossing
Britain’s foreign secretary has welcomed Israel’s limited reopening of Gaza’s Rafah border crossing but emphasised much more still needs to be done.
“I welcome Rafah reopening for people to cross both ways on foot, allowing some in desperate need to access medical care in Egypt,” Yvette Cooper said on social media. “But much more still needs to be done. Aid must flow in, restrictions on essential supplies must ease, & aid workers must be allowed to operate.”
As always avoiding the root problem, end the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Gaza.
‘Shocking’: Only a few sick patients leaving Gaza amid reports of 20,000 in need
The latest update we’ve got from medical sources is that five patients today left from the city of Khan Younis, and the hospital affiliated with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, in order to receive treatment outside the Strip.
The first batch of those medical patients has been evacuated from Gaza under the supervision of the World Health Organisation. Now they are on their way to the Rafah crossing in order to leave the territory.
According to the initial reports that we’ve got, it is supposed that 150 Palestinians should leave the territory on a daily basis, 50 patients with two companions.
But the number is quite shocking, as only five patients have been permitted to leave the territory, while Gaza’s health ministry is still confirming through its medical reports that 20,000 patients are in desperate need to be immediately evacuated out of the Strip in order to get life-saving medical care.
So it reflects the disparity of what’s been diplomatically said and the realities that continue to unfold.
Is it really shocking? It's been the same since the start of the current Gaza genocide. It would be shocking if Israel actually abided by the ceasefire agreement, by any ceasefire agreement.
