Israeli strikes kill 18 in Gaza and patient crossings at Rafah halted, Palestinian officials say | Gaza
Palestinian officials said that 18 people, including four children, died in Gaza in Israel’s tank bombardment and air strikes, and that Israel stopped the evacuation of patients from the Rafah border gate.
The Israeli military said it opened fire on Gaza after a gunman opened fire on Israeli soldiers and seriously injured a reservist.
The attacks targeted Gaza City and the southern city of Khan Younis. A Gaza health official said that two days after the reopening of the Rafah border gate, Israel also stopped the passage of patients to Egypt and allowed the passage of large numbers of Palestinians for the first time in months.
The Red Crescent said the patients arrived at a hospital in Khan Younis in preparation for crossing Rafah for treatment, but were informed that Israel had postponed evacuations.
Raja’a Abu Teir, a Palestinian patient waiting to be evacuated, said at the hospital where many patients were waiting in ambulances, “They called the patients and said that there was no travel today and the crossing was closed.”
Cogat, the Israeli military agency that controls access to Gaza, said on Wednesday that the Rafah crossing remained open but had not received the necessary coordination details from the World Health Organization to facilitate passage.
WHO did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reopening the crossing was one of the conditions under the October ceasefire that marked the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s plan to halt fighting between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants.
Medics in Gaza said 16 patients and 40 companions from Gaza crossed into Egypt on Tuesday.
A Hamas police source said at least 40 people crossed into Gaza from Egypt late Tuesday.
In January, Trump declared the start of the second phase of the ceasefire, in which the parties will negotiate the future governance and reconstruction of the fragmented region.
While fundamental issues such as the withdrawal of Israeli forces from more than 50 percent of occupied Gaza and the disarmament of Hamas remain unresolved, the fragile ceasefire is witnessing almost daily violence.
At least 530 people, mostly civilians, have been killed by Israeli fire since the beginning of the ceasefire, according to Gaza health officials. Palestinian militants killed four Israeli soldiers during the same period, according to Israeli officials.
