The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza reopened on Saturday for the first time in nearly nine months as Israel and Palestinian militants carried out the latest exchange of hostages and prisoners under the fragile ceasefire agreement. Several sick and injured Palestinian patients were evacuated via the Rafah crossing to receive medical treatment outside war-ruined Gaza, Egyptian security and Red Crescent sources said.
The first patients included a boy with an immune disorder, accompanied by his mother, as well as a girl who was to have one of her legs amputated, Egypt's state-linked al-Qahera News TV channel reported. Footage on al-Qahera showed them arriving at the Egyptian side of the crossing, where they were met by ambulances.
A total of 50 sick and injured people, along with 53 escorts, are expected to be evacuated, according to the broadcaster. In May last year, Israel took control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, in an operation that halted aid deliveries into the densely populated coastal strip via the vital facility, as well as the transportation of patients to Egypt.
According to the World Health Organization, between 12, and 14, people in Gaza urgently require medical care that cannot be provided in Gaza. The reopening of the border crossing is part of the three-phase ceasefire agreement between the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement and Israel that went into effect on January Israel exchanges Palestinian prisoners for three hostages.
The next three Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip were freed on Saturday morning in exchange for dozens of Palestinian prisoners under the ceasefire agreement. The hostages kidnapped days ago were taken to an Israeli military base, where they met their families, before they were transported to Israel. In exchange, Israel released Palestinian prisoners, 72 from Israeli prisons, of which 39 were held in the West Bank.
