CAIRO, March 19 (Reuters) – Israel reopened the Rafah crossing with Egypt on Thursday after nearly three weeks to allow some wounded Palestinians to leave for treatment, after Gaza medics 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 Gaza.
Sources told Reuters earlier that the border opening resulted from recent talks that envoys from President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” had with Hamas officials in Cairo in an effort to safeguard the Gaza 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 in Gaza. Its reopening offered some relief to Palestinians who want to leave Gaza for medical care, or those who want to return after fleeing the fighting.
VIOLENCE STAINS TRUCE DEAL
While Israeli attacks in Gaza declined in the days after the U.S. 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 airstrikes 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.
The territory’s health ministry says that nearly 680 people have been killed by Israeli fire since the October ceasefire. Israel said four soldiers were killed by militants in Gaza in the same period.
Israel and Hamas have traded blame for truce violations.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by Pooja Desai)
