File image of humanitarian aid trucks arriving from Egypt through the Rafah border crossing arriving at a storage facility in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 21, 2023. Photo by Belal Al SABBAGH / AFP)
The first ambulances carrying wounded Palestinians from war-torn Gaza entered Egypt via the Rafah crossing on Wednesday. An Egyptian official said this on condition of anonymity.
Live footage on television stations showed Egyptian nurses and first-aiders examining wounded Palestinians and then carrying them on stretchers to Egyptian ambulances.
At least one child was visible in one of the ambulances. Officials said around 90 of the most seriously wounded would be allowed to cross for treatment in Egyptian hospitals.
On the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, an AFP correspondent saw 40 ambulances enter the terminal. Each was carrying two people.
The patients were to be taken to several locations, including a field hospital in Sheikh Zuweid, some 15 kilometres (nine miles) from Rafah. Media reports said others would be taken to a hospital in El Arish, 30 kilometres to the west. The most complex cases will be referred to Cairo.
After the transfer of the wounded, Egypt was to allow hundreds of foreign passport holders to cross for the first time since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7.
How Egypt opened border
Some 400 foreigners and dual nationals were expected to make the crossing from Gaza to Egypt on Wednesday.
According to a diplomatic source, the crossing was opened following an agreement between Egypt, Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers. The mediator was Qatar in coordination with the United States.
Foreign governments say there are passport holders from 44 countries and 28 agencies living in the Gaza Strip. They are part of the 2.4 million people who have endured more than three weeks of unrelenting Israeli bombardment. This bombardment is in response to the October 7 Hamas attacks.
The tiny coastal territory has also suffered “catastrophic” shortages of food, water and electricity following an almost total Israeli blockade in response to the attacks. It is the deadliest in Israel’s history, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians.
So far, Israel’s retaliatory bombing campaign has killed more than 8,500 people. Two-thirds of them women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
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