In Gaza’s Bloodied Skies, New Disease Outbreak Among Children, Crossing to Egypt for Treatment

In Gaza’s Bloodied Skies, New Disease Outbreak Among Children, Crossing to Egypt for Treatment

Rafah, Egypt, February 1, 2025: On Saturday, 50 sick and wounded Palestinian children began crossing from Gaza to Egypt for treatment, marking the first opening of the Rafah border in nine months.

The reopening of the border strengthens the ceasefire agreement made between Israel and Hamas last month. Israel agreed to reopen the Rafah crossing after Hamas released the last remaining female hostages in Gaza.

Egypt’s Al-Qahera TV showed several Palestinian Red Cross ambulances arriving at the border gate. Several children were carried out on gurneys and transferred to ambulances, from where they were taken to hospitals in the Egyptian city of El-Arish. Among them, one child had her foot amputated. Gaza's Health Ministry official, Zaher al-Wahidi, said that by Saturday evening, 37 children had crossed into Egypt.

These children are the first group who will be regularly evacuated through the border for treatment abroad. Gaza's health sector, devastated by Israeli airstrikes over the past 15 months, is unable to perform crucial treatments and surgeries. Over 110,000 Palestinians have been injured, and Gaza's medical facilities have been severely weakened.

Rafah, Gaza's only border that does not connect to Israel, was seized by Israeli forces in May 2023. Afterward, Egypt closed its side of the border in protest.