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CAIRO (AP) — A limited number of Palestinians traveled between Gaza and Egypt on Sunday as the Rafah crossing reopened after a two-day closure, Egyptian state media reported.
The vital border point opened last week for the first time since mid-2024, one of the main requirements for the U.S.-backed ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The crossing was closed Friday and Saturday because of confusion around operations.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said 17 medical evacuees and 27 companions had begun the crossing into Egypt. The same number was expected to head into Gaza. Israel didn’t immediately confirm it.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Wednesday, though the major subject of discussion will be Iran, his office said.
Delays and mistreatment accusations
Over the first four days of the crossing’s opening, just 36 Palestinians requiring medical care were allowed to leave for Egypt, plus 62 companions, according to U.N. data. Rafah’s reopening came after Israel retrieved the remains of the last hostage in Gaza and U.S. officials visited Israel to apply pressure.
Palestinian officials say nearly 20,000 people in Gaza seek to leave for medical care that isn’t available in the war-shattered territory.
A group of Palestinian patients gathered Sunday in the courtyard of a Red Crescent hospital in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis before making their way to the crossing for treatment abroad, family members told The Associated Press.
Amjad Abu Jedian, injured in the war, had been scheduled to leave for medical treatment on the first day of the crossing’s reopening, but only five patients were allowed to travel, said his mother, Raja Abu Jedian. He was shot by an Israeli sniper while doing building work in the central Bureij refugee camp in July 2024, she said.
On Saturday, his family received a call from the World Health Organization about traveling on Sunday, she said.
“We want them to take care of the patients (during their evacuation),” she said. “We want the Israeli military not to burden them.”
Returning to Gaza
A group of Palestinians arrived Sunday at the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing to return to Gaza, Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera News satellite television reported.
Palestinians who returned to Gaza in the first few days of the crossing’s operation described hours of delays and invasive searches by Israeli authorities and an Israeli-backed Palestinian armed group, Abu Shabab. Israel has denied mistreatment.
A European Union mission and Palestinian officials run the border crossing, and Israel has its screening facility some distance away.
