GAZA CITY
Gaza‘s border crossing with Egypt reopened on March 19 for a limited number of people, Egyptian state media and a Red Crescent official said, for the first time since Israel and the United States launched strikes on Iran.
An Egyptian Red Crescent official, speaking anonymously to AFP, said the Rafah crossing had reopened in both directions and would allow Palestinian patients to cross into Egypt and stranded Palestinians to return to Gaza.
Al-Qahera News, which is close to Egypt’s intelligence services, aired footage showing a small number of Palestinians, including people who had been receiving medical treatment, preparing to cross from the Egyptian side back into Gaza.
Several ambulances were also seen waiting to receive patients coming out of the devastated Palestinian territory.
Israel had announced earlier this week that Rafah would reopen on Wednesday, but the reopening did not materialise.
It said travel would resume in coordination with Egypt, subject to Israeli security approval and monitored by the European Union’s border mission.
Incoming travelers will undergo additional screening inside Gaza in an area controlled by the Israeli army, according to COGAT, the Israeli Defense Ministry body overseeing civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories.
The EU deployed its border assistance mission (EUBAM) to Rafah in early February.