Sick and wounded children begin crossing from Gaza to Egypt in first opening in months

A group of 50 sick and wounded Palestinian children began crossing to Egypt for treatment through Gaza’s Rafah crossing on Saturday, in the first opening of the border since Israel captured it nearly nine months ago.

The reopening of the Rafah crossing represents a significant breakthrough that bolsters the ceasefire deal Israel and Hamas agreed to earlier this month.

Israel agreed to reopen the crossing after Hamas released the last living female hostages in Gaza.

A Palestinian girl wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip is carried by medics before crossing the Rafah border into Egypt. AP

Egyptian state-linked channel Al-Qahera News showed footage of the first of 50 evacuees and 53 companions, including a child with an autoimmune disease, crossing the border into Egypt to receive treatment.

Earlier, the Rafah border crossing, the main entry and exit point for the Palestinian territory, reopened on Saturday for the first time since May 2024 to allow Palestinian patients to cross over from Gaza to Egypt to receive medical treatment, live television footage showed.

A Palestinian woman holds a sick child before leaving Gaza for treatment abroad through Rafah crossing. Reuters

Agencies