The EU restarts the surveillance of the key border crossing that has been closed to people since May 2024 in the middle of the War of Israel against Gaza.
The European Union has restarted its civil mission to monitor the border crossing to Rafah, because the key transit point between Gaza and Egypt should reopen on Saturday for medical evacuations.
Friday, the Gaza Ministry of Health confirmed that a number of Palestinians – including injured civilians and Hamas fighters – would enter Egypt on Saturday via the crossing of Rafah, which has been closed to human traffic since May 2024 .
It will initially be opened for 50 injured fighters and 50 injured civilians, as well as the people who escort them, said Hamas officials, adding that 100 other people – mostly students – would be allowed to cross humanitarian land.
People will only be allowed to travel in one direction, from Gaza to Egypt, for the moment, have said officials.
Kaja Kallas, head of the European Union foreign policy, said on Friday that “the mission of the EU’s civil border was moving to the crossing of Rafah at the request of the Palestinians and the Israelis.
“He will support the Palestinian border staff and allow the transfer of people to get out of Gaza, including those who need medical care”, in a position on X.
Egyptian security sources have confirmed that members of the EU team had arrived in the establishment.
The crossing will now be led by members of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and European monitors, PA and according to officials from Hamas.
The Gaza Ministry of Health said that the transport of patients in two hospitals in the north and south of the enclave would be coordinated with the World Health Organization.
On Friday, during a press briefing in Geneva, that representative Rik Peeperkorn said that around 12,000 to 14,000 patients were waiting to be evacuated from Gaza through the crossing of Rafah.
Yossi Mekelberg, analyst at the Catham House-based reflection group, told Tel Aviv Tribune that “from an Israeli point of view, the idea of allowing Hamas fighters to obtain medical treatment which, there Only a few weeks, they would not have accepted. Now it happens.
He added that “it is also symbolic that they allow Rafah to open as a crossing to reach Egypt. We are starting to see a certain return to normality and a little common sense among all the parties. »»
Meanwhile, hundreds of Egyptians attended a demonstration near Rafah’s crossing on Friday to protest a plan launched by US President Donald Trump to move the Palestinians from the territory to Egypt and Jordan, reported the Egyptian media.
Television linked to the Al-Qahera News state has shown images of hundreds of demonstrators waving Egyptian and Palestinian flags near the border passage.
Last week, Trump last week offered a plan to “clean up” the Gaza Strip and for Jordan and Egypt to welcome the Palestinians of the territory ravaged by the war.
The two states have publicly rejected the idea.