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Israel says it will open Gaza’s main entrance Over the next few days, thousands of Palestinians who need medical care will be allowed to leave the war-torn area egypt,
COGAT, the Israeli military branch that oversees humanitarian affairs, said the opening of the Rafah crossing would be coordinated with Egypt under the supervision of the European Union mission, similar to the mechanism employed during the previous Gaza ceasefire agreed in January 2025.
under the US President donald trump‘S 20 point plan This has largely put an end to the two-year-long war between Israel and Hamas For the militants, the crossing had to be open in both directions.
Before the war, the Rafah Crossing was the only direct exit point to the outside world for most Palestinians in Gaza and a key entry point for aid into the area. It remained mostly closed throughout the conflict.
According to the United Nations, at least 16,500 patients in Gaza require medical care outside the enclave.
Some Gazans managed to get medical treatment abroad through Israel.
“We have been waiting for Rafah to open for months,” said Gaza businessman Tamer al-Burai, who needs treatment abroad for a respiratory illness. “Finally, I and thousands of other patients can have a chance to get proper treatment,” Burai said.
Israel has closed Rafah in both directions since a ceasefire took effect in October and has said Hamas must abide by an agreement to return all hostages, dead and alive, still in Gaza.
Hamas has returned all 20 surviving hostages in exchange for about 2,000 Palestinian detainees and convicted prisoners, but two more dead captives – an Israeli police officer and a Thai agricultural worker – are still in Gaza.
Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group affiliated with Hamas that also held some of the hostages taken in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that started the war, said on Wednesday it was working with the Red Cross to search for the body of one of the remaining dead captives.
Islamic Jihad’s announcement came a day after Hamas handed over remains it said were those of one of the two dead hostages, but forensic testing in Israel found they did not belong to either of them.
The handing over of all hostages was a central principle of the first phase of the ceasefire. Major hurdles remain before the next phase, including the disarmament of Hamas, Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, governance of the enclave, and the question of the international security regime.