Sick and wounded Gazans on Monday began crossing into Egypt to seek medical treatment after Israel permitted a limited reopening of the Palestinian territory’s Rafah border post.
About 150 people were due to leave the territory on Monday, and 50 to enter it, Egyptian officials said, more than 20 months after Israeli forces fighting in Gaza closed the crossing.
“Three ambulances have arrived so far carrying a number of the sick and injured, who were immediately screened upon arrival to determine to which hospital they will be transferred,” an Egyptian health official said.
Photo: AP
The partial resumption of operations comes after Gaza’s civil defense agency reported dozens killed in a wave of Israeli strikes over the weekend, in what the military said was retaliation for Palestinian fighters exiting a tunnel in Rafah city.
The border crossing with Egypt is Gaza’s only gateway to the outside world that does not lead to Israel, and is a key access point for both people and goods.
Mahmud, a leukemia patient aged 38 from Gaza City, said that he felt lucky to be able to travel to Egypt for treatment after receiving approval from Israel to go with his sister.
“In Gaza, there is no treatment and no life... Of course, I am lucky, but I am still sad because my father and mother are still in Gaza,” he said.
Ali Shaath, the head of a Palestinian technocratic committee established to oversee the day-to-day governance of Gaza, said that Rafah’s reopening offered a “window of hope” for the territory.
The partial resumption began on Sunday in a tightly restricted pilot phase that did not involve travel of people, and came after months of appeals from aid groups.
Abdul Rahim Mohamed, 30, said he was eagerly awaiting the return to Gaza of his mother, who had left for cancer treatment in Egypt in March 2024.
“Two days ago, she was informed she could return to Gaza and told me on the phone: ‘Come and wait for me at the crossing,’” he said.
“I am very happy today... I will hug my mother,” he added.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas said that the opening of the crossing “marks a concrete and positive step in the peace plan” for the territory, where humanitarian conditions remain dire.
VAGUE: The criteria of the amnesty remain unclear, but it would cover political violence from 1999 to today, and those convicted of murder or drug trafficking would not qualify Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodriguez on Friday announced an amnesty bill that could lead to the release of hundreds of prisoners, including opposition leaders, journalists and human rights activists detained for political reasons. The measure had long been sought by the US-backed opposition. It is the latest concession Rodriguez has made since taking the reins of the country on Jan. 3 after the brazen seizure of then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Rodriguez told a gathering of justices, magistrates, ministers, military brass and other government leaders that the ruling party-controlled Venezuelan National Assembly would take up the bill with urgency. Rodriguez also announced the shutdown
Civil society leaders and members of a left-wing coalition yesterday filed impeachment complaints against Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte, restarting a process sidelined by the Supreme Court last year. Both cases accuse Duterte of misusing public funds during her term as education secretary, while one revives allegations that she threatened to assassinate former ally Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The filings come on the same day that a committee in the House of Representatives was to begin hearings into impeachment complaints against Marcos, accused of corruption tied to a spiraling scandal over bogus flood control projects. Under the constitution, an impeachment by the
China executed 11 people linked to Myanmar criminal gangs, including “key members” of telecom scam operations, state media reported yesterday, as Beijing toughens its response to the sprawling, transnational industry. Fraud compounds where scammers lure Internet users into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments have flourished across Southeast Asia, including in Myanmar. Initially largely targeting Chinese speakers, the criminal groups behind the compounds have expanded operations into multiple languages to steal from victims around the world. Those conducting the scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals forced to work. In the past few years, Beijing has stepped up cooperation
Exiled Tibetans began a unique global election yesterday for a government representing a homeland many have never seen, as part of a democratic exercise voters say carries great weight. From red-robed Buddhist monks in the snowy Himalayas, to political exiles in megacities across South Asia, to refugees in Australia, Europe and North America, voting takes place in 27 countries — but not China. “Elections ... show that the struggle for Tibet’s freedom and independence continues from generation to generation,” said candidate Gyaltsen Chokye, 33, who is based in the Indian hill-town of Dharamsala, headquarters of the government-in-exile, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). It
RSS