The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said it helped the evacuation of 40 Palestinians from Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, which operates under strict Israeli restrictions.
In a statement, the organisation said on Monday that the group included 20 patients and 20 companions to receive treatment in hospitals outside the enclave.
The society said it will pursue humanitarian efforts, in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO) and international partners, “to facilitate patients' access to treatment outside Gaza, despite the challenges and difficult humanitarian conditions."
According to an Anadolu reporter, vehicles of the WHO and the Palestinian Red Crescent Agency carried the evacuees to the crossing.
Under extremely tight Israeli restrictions, Israel reopened the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing on February 2 to allow the passage of people in both directions. Israel has occupied the crossing since May 2024.
Estimates in Gaza indicate that about 22,000 wounded and sick Palestinians hope to leave the territory for treatment abroad, amid what officials describe as a catastrophic collapse of the health sector following Israel’s genocidal war.
Semi-official figures also show that about 80,000 Palestinians have registered to return to Gaza, underscoring the resident’s rejection of displacement and insistence on returning despite widespread destruction.
Although Israeli and Egyptian media had previously reported that up to 50 Palestinians would be allowed to cross the terminal daily in each direction, the numbers have fallen far short. Since the reopening began, only limited groups have crossed in both directions.
Under Israeli conditions, only Palestinians who left Gaza after the outbreak of the war are permitted to return, following intensive security screening.
Returnees, including elderly people and children, have reported undergoing harsh Israeli military interrogations, while stressing their attachment to their land and rejection of displacement.
Before the Israeli war, hundreds of Palestinians crossed Rafah daily in both directions under normal procedures overseen by Gaza’s Interior Ministry and Egyptian authorities, without Israeli involvement.
Israel was supposed to reopen the crossing during the first phase of a ceasefire that took effect on October 10, 2025, but failed to do so.
The Israeli offensive that began in October 2023 killed over 72,000 Palestinians and wounding more than 171,000 others, while destroying about 90 percent of Gaza’s infrastructure.
Despite an October 10, 2024, ceasefire, the Israeli army has continued to violate it, killing 581 Palestinians and wounding 1,553 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
