Ahmed Shaaban (Cairo)
Hundreds of foreigners and Palestinians with dual nationalities, in addition to dozens of wounded Palestinians, left the Gaza Strip for Egypt on Wednesday, with the Egyptian authorities opening the Rafah crossing “exceptionally,” on the 26th day of the war on Gaza.
These foreigners and Palestinians were allowed to enter the crossing yesterday, after the Egyptian authorities announced that it was opened “exceptionally” to allow the transfer of about ninety wounded Palestinians and the exit of about 545 foreigners and dual nationals.
As the crossing opened, travelers stood in long lines, waiting to check their passports and other documents.
Ambulances transported wounded Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Egypt yesterday, via the Rafah border crossing, to receive treatment, an official at the crossing confirmed.
On the Palestinian side, 40 ambulances crossed, each carrying at least two wounded people, including children.
The Palestinian General Authority for Crossings and Borders announced yesterday evening that “81 seriously injured people are scheduled to leave for treatment in Egypt’s hospitals.”
The Egyptian authorities are preparing to receive the wounded Palestinians, as the medical official reported “the establishment of the first field hospital on an area of 1,300 square meters, to receive the wounded Palestinians upon their arrival in Egypt, in the city of Sheikh Zuweid,” 15 kilometers from Rafah.
The Egyptian Minister of Health and Population, Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, held a meeting yesterday to follow up on the preparations for hospitals in North Sinai Governorate, and to follow up on developments in the map of confrontation and crisis management, in preparation for receiving Palestinian patients from the Gaza Strip, at the command and control center of the Ministry of Health and Population in the New Administrative Capital.
The official spokesman for the Ministry of Health and Population, Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, indicated, in a statement, a copy of which was obtained by Al-Ittihad, that the Minister followed up with the concerned Ministry of Health leaders on the equipment of hospitals and health facilities with their various dependencies and the extent of their readiness to receive patients and provide them with the best health care, directing to increase the capacity of hospitals. Ismailia Health Care Authority to receive the injured and sick to ensure their rational distribution to hospitals.
After transporting the wounded, Egypt will allow hundreds of foreign passport holders to cross, an Egyptian official announced, for the first time since the war began on October 7.
The Rafah border crossing is the only land crossing into the Gaza Strip that is not under Israeli control.
On the ground, the Israeli army announced yesterday that it had struck more than 11,000 targets.
Since last Friday evening, ground operations have expanded, and Israeli strikes intensified in the Gaza Strip.
Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to continue the war, despite the “painful losses” among the army’s ranks after 26 days of fighting.
Netanyahu said, in a television speech hours after the army announced that 11 soldiers had been killed during the last 24 hours in battles in Gaza: “We have achieved many important achievements, but we also have painful losses,” adding, “We are fighting a difficult war, and it will be long.”
Yesterday, the Israeli army announced that nine soldiers were killed on Tuesday, and two were seriously injured in the ongoing battles in the Gaza Strip, which brings to 326 the number of Israeli soldiers killed since the start of the war.
Israeli warplanes continued to launch intense raids throughout the Strip.
Israel imposes a severe blockade on the Gaza Strip, cutting off water, electricity, food supplies, and fuel.
The Gaza Strip, with a population of 2.4 million, has already been subject to a siege by Israel since 2007.
The high death toll raised concern at the international level, while the United Nations warned yesterday that the Gaza Strip had become a “cemetery” for thousands of children, noting that it feared the possibility of more of them dying due to drought. UNICEF spokesman James Alder said: “Gaza has become a graveyard for thousands of children,” considering the death toll of children “horrific.”
Calls from United Nations agencies focus on the need to bring aid into the sector.
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