GAZA — A Palestinian woman who returned to Gaza via the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, after Israel partially reopened it under heavy restrictions and monitoring with limited traffic, said Israeli forces told her to warn residents to prepare themselves to leave the Palestinian enclave, amid Israeli plans to forcibly displace the population and occupy the Strip.
“The Israeli interrogator asked me to tell the displaced people in Al-Mawasi area in Khan Younis in southern Gaza to prepare themselves to leave Gaza,” said the woman who was among the first groups to return this week.
On Monday, Israel reopened the Rafah Crossing for limited passage of residents after more than 20 months of closure.
On the first day of the Rafah crossing’s reopening, twelve Palestinians entered Gaza through the crossing in a 20-hour journey and strict Israeli restrictions.
Also, only five Palestinian patients in critical condition were permitted by Israel to leave Gaza.
Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, said on Monday that there are 450 patients in critical condition and in need of immediate treatment outside the Gaza Strip.
“We were informed that today only five patients will be allowed to exit with two companions through the Rafah crossing,” Abu Salmiya. “We want clear mechanisms for the exit of patients and the injured from Gaza for treatment.”
Health authorities said at least 1,268 people have died in Gaza while waiting for medical transfer after the crossing was closed by Israel.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health warned that there are critical medical cases in urgent need of immediate evacuation through the Rafah Crossing, as their lives are at serious risk.
Abu Salmiya said there were 20,000 patients in the territory, including 4,500 children, in urgent need of treatment.
The Ministry said around 6,000 injured people require urgent transfer to receive medical treatment. It added that the current evacuation system is extremely slow and could take years to clear the backlog of patients and wounded.
According to the Ministry, evacuating at least 500 patients per day is necessary to alleviate their suffering.
Health authorities have warned that the number of deaths among those waiting for medical transfer will rise soon unless more Palestinians are allowed to exit immediately.
“We’re still losing lives every day. Allowing only 50 patients out of Gaza each day is not proper. This dynamic is very dire and we’re going to lose more lives,” Abu Salmiya said.
The reason the mass evacuations are needed is because Israel’s military “entirely destroyed” Gaza’s health system, said Abu Salmiya.
“Hospitals are working at the minimum of medical supplies and personnel. Israel continues to deny the entry of supplies, ambulances, and volunteer doctors. We are unable to treat patients here and preventing their exit is a death warrant issued against them. It’s premeditated murder designed by the Israeli occupation forces.
WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier confirmef that only five patients in Gaza were transferred through Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt on Monday.
“On the second of February, WHO and partners supported the medical evacuation of five patients and seven companions to Egypt via the Rafah crossing,” Lindmeier said.
More than 18,000 patients are awaiting urgent evacuation after Israel’s more than two-year war, he said.
Zaher al-Wahidi, spokesperson for the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza, said the process at the Rafah crossing is “too complex” and ineffective.
“This will not allow us to evacuate patients and provide medical services to them to give them a chance at life,” al-Wahidi said.
“At this rate, we would need years to evacuate all of these patients, by which time all of them could lose their lives while waiting for an opportunity to leave,” al-Wahidi said.
He estimated 10 people die this way every day that the Rafah crossing is closed or operating at the current levels.
Not only does Gaza’s border with Egypt need to fully open but so do all other “pathways for patients”, said Tarik Jasarevic, a spokesperson for the World Health Organization.
“We know the most time-efficient and cost-efficient referral pathways are through to the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where there are medical facilities ready to receive patients,” Jasarevic said.
“We have been calling for the opening of all crossings throughout the war,” he added.
While thousands of patients in Gaza need security clearances from Israeli authorities to leave the enclave for treatment, countries around the world also need to step forward and accept wounded and ill Palestinians after more than two years of devastation, Jasarevic said.
“So far during the war, we evacuated more than 10,000 people, and the majority of these people went to Egypt and after that the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and some European countries… What we really should be focused on now is to rebuild the health system inside Gaza so we don’t rely so much on evacuations.
For Palestinians in Gaza, the Rafah crossing had long been the only connection to the outside world.
Israeli forces occupied the Palestinian side of the crossing in May 2024, destroying its buildings, preventing travel and causing a severe humanitarian crisis, especially for patients. They deployed soldiers in a military buffer zone all across the Philadelphi Corridor, where they remain today.
The first phase of Trump’s Gaza ceasefire 20-point plan, which took effect in October to end Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, had called for Israel to let humanitarian aid into the territory and open “the Rafah crossing in both directions”.
However, Israel has violated the agreement and continued to close it along with killing hundreds of civilians and blocking much-needed aid. Israel also continues to occupy over 50 percent of Gaza.
There have been reports that Israel plans to restrict the number of Palestinians entering the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing, ensuring that more people are allowed out than in.
Israeli officials have repeatedly called for the forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, the occupation of the enclave, and the construction of illegal settlements. Palestinians fear that such plans for the Rafah crossing amid Israel control are intended to expel them permanently, or that those who leave even temporarily could be prevented from returning.
Israeli state broadcaster Kan reported that the crossing would be open for about six hours daily.
Also, the Israeli army has set up a military checkpoint for Palestinians entering Gaza from Egypt and called it the “Regavim” corridor. The checkpoint is under the purview of Israeli security services and located in an area under military control outside the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
Israel’s military spokesperson said soldiers will check identities of those arriving against lists approved by Israeli intelligence agencies and will conduct a thorough search of their belongings.
Only after passing through the Rafah crossing and then Israeli screening will those returning to Gaza be permitted to continue into the besieged enclave.
However, unlike the entry of Palestinians to Gaza, Israel will only supervise the exit of Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt remotely from a control room using facial recognition software.
Also, Palestinians who returned to the Gaza Strip on Monday via the Rafah Crossing described a humiliating process as they were blindfolded, interrogated, and abused by the Israeli military and Israeli-backed militias. One woman declared, “No to displacement,” adding that Israel intends to allow more Palestinians to leave Gaza than to enter. — QNN
