Israel reopens Gaza Strip crossing amid new truce push
Some wounded residents of the Gaza Strip will be able to leave the enclave after Israeli authorities opened the Rafah crossing.
Israeli forces in recent days at the Palestinian side of Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt. Credit TPS-IL
Israel has reopened the Rafah crossing with Egypt after nearly three weeks to allow some wounded Palestinians to leave for treatment after medics in the Gaza Strip said Israeli strikes had killed four people in the enclave.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said only eight Palestinians who were injured in Israeli attacks during the two-year war and 17 of their family members would be allowed into Egypt for medical treatment after the crossing reopened on Thursday.
It was unclear how many would be let through from Egypt back into the Gaza Strip.
Sources told Reuters earlier that the border opening resulted from recent talks that envoys from US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” had with Hamas officials in Cairo in an effort to safeguard the Gaza Strip ceasefire, which has been under serious strain since the United States and Israel started bombing Iran.
The crossing had reopened in early February after being largely shut since May 2024, in the early months of Israel’s war against Hamas.
Its reopening offered some relief to Palestinians who want to leave the enclave for medical care, or those who want to return after fleeing the fighting.
While Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip declined in the days after the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28, according to residents, medics and analysts, they have since started to rise again.
On Thursday, two Israeli air strikes killed at least four Palestinians and wounded some others in two separate incidents in Gaza City, local health officials said.
There was no immediate comment from Israel.
Israel said four soldiers were killed by militants in the Gaza Strip in the same period.
Israel and Hamas have traded blame for truce violations.
Reuters
