A small number of sick and wounded Palestinians began crossing into Egypt for medical treatment after Israel permitted a limited reopening of the Rafah border post, as fragile diplomatic efforts to stabilise the conflict moved forward.
Egyptian officials said about 150 people were due to leave Gaza and 50 to enter on Monday, more than 20 months after Israeli forces closed the crossing. By nightfall, Reuters reported Israel had allowed 12 Palestinians to re-enter Gaza, while a further 38 had not cleared security and remained on the Egyptian side overnight. Israel also permitted five patients, each escorted by two relatives, to cross into Egypt; that brought the total number entering and exiting to 27, according to Palestinian and Egyptian sources. Palestinian officials blamed delays on Israeli security checks. Israel’s military had no immediate comment.
Ambulances waited for hours at the border before ferrying patients after sunset, footage from Egyptian state television showed. The crossing had been sealed since Israeli troops took control in May 2024, opening only briefly during a ceasefire in early 2025 for evacuations. Gaza health officials say about 20,000 children and adults need medical care and hope to leave via Rafah, and thousands outside Gaza wish to return.
Israel said it took control of Rafah to prevent weapons smuggling by Hamas; the move isolated the territory and cut off a lifeline for medical care, travel and trade. Movement through the crossing after the partial reopening will be subject to joint Israeli-Egyptian security screening, and for now only a small number of Gaza’s tens of thousands of wounded and ill will be allowed to leave each day.
Thousands of civilians have registered with the World Health Organization for medical evacuation; Médecins Sans Frontières says more than one in five are children. The sick include over 11,000 cancer patients. Israeli airstrikes have devastated Gaza’s healthcare system: in March 2025 Israel struck and destroyed Gaza’s only specialised cancer hospital, the territory’s sole provider of oncological care, forcing doctors to operate in makeshift clinics with minimal resources. Gaza health officials say around 4,000 people with official referrals for treatment abroad have been unable to cross.
Some patients have died waiting. Dalia Abu Kashef, 28, died last week while awaiting permission to cross for a liver transplant; her husband told Reuters they had found a volunteer donor but could not secure timely passage. The WHO says 900 people, including children and cancer patients, have died while awaiting evacuation.
The reopening also offers families a rare chance to reunite after more than two years of war. Many who fled to Cairo early in the conflict did not expect to stay so long; before the crossing was shut, about 100,000 Palestinians had exited to Egypt through Rafah. “I love Gaza, and I don’t see any other place that feels like home,” said Mohammad Talal, 28, a trader whose home was destroyed in Jabalia.
Israel had used Rafah’s closure as leverage, linking reopening to the return of hostages taken in the Hamas-led assault of 7 October 2023. That stance shifted after the Israeli military announced it had recovered the remains of the final captive, Ran Gvili. The reopening is viewed as a key step as the US-brokered ceasefire agreement enters its second phase. The first phase included the exchange of hostages for Palestinians held by Israel, increased humanitarian aid and a partial Israeli troop pullback. The second phase envisages forming a new Palestinian committee to govern Gaza, deploying an international security force, disarming Hamas and beginning reconstruction — a more complex and uncertain process.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas described the Rafah opening as “a concrete and positive step” in the peace plan and said the EU’s civilian mission is on the ground to monitor operations and support Palestinian border guards. The National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, a body of Palestinian technocrats, called the move a symbolic first step toward reconnecting what has been torn apart and opening a “genuine window of hope” for Gaza’s population.
Yet the ceasefire remains fragile. Four months on, it has often provided pauses rather than lasting peace. While airstrikes and gunfire have eased at times, they have not stopped. Storms have compounded misery, causing deaths and flooding in overcrowded displacement camps. On Saturday, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 32 people, including children, according to local health officials; the Israeli military said it targeted militants and weapons infrastructure. Since the ceasefire took effect in early October, Israeli forces have killed at least 509 Palestinians and wounded 1,405 more, including hundreds of children, local figures report.
Despite Rafah’s partial reopening, Israel continues to bar foreign journalists from entering Gaza. International reporting is therefore carried out mainly by journalists already living there, many of whom have been killed since the war began.