Middle East war
Ambulances wait at the border crossing with the Gaza Strip
Palestinians at the Rafah border crossing. photo
© Hatem Ali/AP
So far, the Rafah border crossing has been opened primarily for the delivery of relief supplies. Now injured Palestinians will soon be able to cross the border to receive treatment in Egypt.
The treatment of Palestinian injured from the Gaza Strip Egypt is obviously getting closer. On Wednesday morning, more than a dozen Egyptian ambulances drove to a gate at the Rafah border crossing, images from state-affiliated television channel Al-Kahira News showed.
According to the general secretary of the Egyptian Red Crescent in North Sinai, Raed Abdel Nasser, 40 ambulances were ready. According to Al-Kahira News, they were waiting in the transit area of the border crossing on the Egyptian side.
The border authority in Gaza was informed by the Egyptian side of the planned step on Tuesday evening. 81 seriously injured people would be able to cross the border in Rafah on Wednesday to be treated in Egyptian hospitals, the authority said in a statement. Employees of the Egyptian Red Crescent were also informed on Tuesday to be ready for the opening.
Since the beginning of the Gaza war, no treatment of the injured has been possible in Egypt. The opening of the Rafah crossing and who is allowed to pass through it is strictly regulated. The crossing has so far been used primarily to deliver relief goods.
Field hospital in Egypt
Egypt has already built a field hospital to treat Palestinian wounded. It is located behind a government hospital in the town of Sheikh Suwaid, about 15 kilometers from the Rafah crossing. According to reports, it has at least 300 beds.
Al-Kaira News reported that Egypt was ready to receive about 80 wounded people who will be treated in Sheikh Suwaid and in the coastal town of Al-Arish. Abdel Nasser of the Egyptian Red Crescent said transfers to other specialized hospitals were also possible, including in Cairo.
According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, around 8,300 civilians in the Gaza Strip were killed and 21,500 others were injured in the war. This information cannot yet be independently verified.
Since the Islamist Hamas violently seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, Israel has tightened a blockade of the coastal area, which Egypt supports. The government in Cairo is also concerned that a large number of Palestinian refugees could come to Egypt via Rafah.