Egypt to Open Border Crossing for Injured Individuals
Egypt has announced that it will open the Rafah border crossing to receive and treat injured Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. A field hospital will be set up in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula for this purpose. Additionally, Cairo intends to send more aid supplies.
In light of the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, Egypt is willing to accommodate and provide medical treatment for the injured individuals from the Palestinian territory. According to the news agency AFP, a representative of the health authorities in the Egyptian city of El Arish has stated that “medical teams” will be present at the Rafah border crossing today. Rafah is the only border crossing of the Gaza Strip that is not controlled by Israel.
The border authorities of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip have stated that Egypt has agreed to receive 81 seriously injured individuals. These individuals are expected to be transported from the Palestinian territory to Egypt through Rafah, according to the reports. Egypt had previously been opposed to receiving people from Gaza. The Egyptian government fears that the conflict could escalate and spread to the Nile country and beyond. Instead, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had proposed that Israel should accommodate the Palestinians in the Negev.
Field Hospital in Northern Sinai
According to AFP, numerous ambulances are prepared on the Egyptian side of the border crossing. As stated by the Egyptian official, a 1,300-square-meter field hospital will be constructed approximately 15 kilometers away from Rafah in the city of Sheikh Zuweid in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula to treat the injured individuals from the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, the US government has expressed hope that US citizens will also be able to leave the Gaza Strip. “We hope that any agreement to get people out would also afford the possibility for US citizens or their families and other foreigners to get out as well,” said US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller in Washington.
Egypt intends to deliver more aid supplies
In the meantime, Israel’s National Security Adviser Tsachi Hanegbi told journalists that his country is in discussions with Egypt regarding what should happen to the injured individuals in the Gaza Strip: “Egypt is a state that we have a friendship with. The state is in peace with us.” He acknowledged Egypt’s desire to prevent an influx of displaced Palestinians from the Gaza Strip into Egypt. However, he also emphasized that there are still disagreements regarding the delivery of assistance to the Gaza Strip.
In the last 24 hours, a total of 66 trucks carrying aid supplies crossed the border. This is the largest number since the start of the deliveries. According to the UN, 100 truckloads are needed daily to provide the essentials for the 2.2 million people in Gaza. Prior to the start of the war, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated that an average of 500 trucks per day entered Gaza during weekdays to supply the people there.
As a result, Egypt plans to send more trucks loaded with aid supplies to the Gaza Strip. However, Israel claims that it has limited capacity to inspect the trucks.
The decision to admit the injured individuals from the Gaza Strip was made hours after an Israeli attack on the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, which reportedly killed at least 50 people and injured 150, according to Israel and the Hamas-led Ministry of Health.