Gaza: Rafah crossing reopens amid escalating ground fighting

Preparations continue inside the Rafah land crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip to reopen it, after it had been closed for more than a year and a half.

According to official sources, patients will be allowed to travel abroad in coordination with the World Health Organization, although the mechanism for returning those stranded in Egypt to the Strip has not yet been clarified. As part of the opening arrangements, 600 trucks loaded with fuel and cooking gas will also be allowed to enter.

In a related development, Israeli occupation authorities handed over to the Palestinian side the bodies of 45 unidentified people, some of whom are believed to have been killed during the events of October 7 inside the border.

Meanwhile, the skies over the Gaza Strip saw intensive flights of Israeli reconnaissance aircraft, while naval vessels fired several times toward the beaches of Rafah and Khan Younis. Israeli artillery also shelled areas east of Shujaiya and east of Khan Younis with a number of rounds.

According to the daily statistical report of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, 44 fatalities reached hospitals in the past 24 hours (38 of them were recovered from under the rubble), in addition to 29 injuries.

This brings the toll of the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, to 67,913 dead and 170,134 injured.