Eight Palestinians left, 12 returned to Gaza on Monday: Interior ministry
The Gaza Interior Ministry says it has monitored operations at the Rafah crossing throughout Monday after its reopening.
Eight people – patients and their companions – departed Gaza during the day, the ministry said in a brief statement on Telegram.
Another 12 Palestinians, nine women and three children, arrived in the Strip late on Monday. “They were provided with immediate assistance and their arrival procedures were completed,” the ministry said.
Critics of Israel’s prohibitive restrictions say the slow-moving process to get wounded and sick Palestinians treatment abroad is a “death sentence” for potentially hundreds of patients in Gaza.
45 Palestinian patients, 90 companions head towards Rafah: Red Crescent
About 45 Palestinian patients, along with 90 companions, are moving in vehicles towards the Rafah crossing to be transferred to Egypt for urgent medical care, the Palestine Red Crescent Society says.
An estimated 22,000 wounded and sick people are also in dire need of treatment abroad, after Israel’s genocidal two-year war devastated Gaza’s healthcare system.
Instead of ‘beautiful reunions’, Rafah crossing process has been a ‘nightmare’
There is no list so far today stating who will be allowed to leave Gaza to receive urgent medical treatment abroad, as discussions are still ongoing between the World Health Organization and the Israeli military.
On the ground, we can see different field preparations being made by the Palestine Red Crescent Society.
Its hospital here is the main gathering point, and in the past few hours, we saw vehicles affiliated with the WHO make their way inside to start preparing patients to leave Gaza for medical care.
The process has also been a nightmare for those returning to Gaza. I spoke to a Palestinian woman who reunited with her family after months of separation. She was blindfolded and interrogated by the Israeli military on her way back to Gaza.
Others told me they were intercepted by Israeli-backed militias near Rafah city in the south. This is a main area where these gangs are actively operating under the cover of the Israeli military. These militias have asked returnees to provide them with information about armed factions in Gaza.
So the Rafah crossing has been a humiliating process instead of a day marking a beautiful reunion with family.
