Gazans face inconceivable wait at Rafah crossing to Egypt

[ad_1] Many of the movies posted on-line for the reason that partial reopening of the Rafah crossing, which hyperlinks the Gaza Strip and Egypt, on February 2, are celebratory: they present Gazans returning residence to bouquets, dances and tearful crowds of journalists and members of the family. The reopening of this important border crossing, which had been closed because it was taken by the Israeli Military in Could 2024, was a part of the Gaza peace plan signed on October 9 by the opponents.

The movies filmed close to the Rafah border crossing and posted on-line round February 9, 2026, by a Palestinian information web site present a crowd welcoming residence the fifth group of individuals authorised to journey again to the Gaza Strip from Egypt. To show this content material from Instagram, you could allow commercial monitoring and viewers measurement.

Settle for Handle my decisions After going via numerous checkpoints, Palestinians who wish to return to the Gaza Strip are bussed throughout the border, accompanied by UN personnel and by males sporting Egyptian colors, as documented in pictures taken by Al Jazeera correspondent Hani al-Shaer.

These movies, filmed by Al Jazeera correspondent Hani al-Shaer and revealed on February 11, present the seventh group of individuals capable of return to the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing. This group crossed in a bus, accompanied by males sporting UN uniforms or Egyptian colors. To show this content material from TikTok, you could allow commercial monitoring and viewers measurement.

Settle for Handle my decisions The partial border reopening has additionally meant that some Gazans looking for medical remedy for critical accidents or diseases have been capable of journey to Egypt for medical care. The UN reported that solely 14 of the 36 hospitals within the Gaza Strip have been operational by October 2025, after the Israeli Military had carried out no less than 700 assaults on Gazan well being centres since operations started in October 2023.

The story of sufferers being allowed to cross into Egypt for medical care was coated by each native and worldwide press who're capable of entry the Egyptian facet of the Rafah crossing. The Palestinian facet of the crossing, which remains to be inside the “yellow line” managed by Israel, stays inaccessible to overseas media.

These movies broadcast by Saudi tv outlet Al-Hadath on February 2 present preparations undertaken on the Egyptian facet of the Rafah border crossing to assist welcome the primary sufferers allowed to cross. To show this content material from TikTok, you could allow commercial monitoring and viewers measurement.

Settle for Handle my decisions Nevertheless, the variety of individuals allowed to journey in each instructions remains to be minuscule and never reflective of the necessity. EUBAM, a European mission tasked with observing and helping with the operations of Palestinian authorities in Rafah, mentioned there are solely 80 to 100 crossings a day. The numbers are roughly cut up between individuals looking for to voluntarily return to the Gaza Strip and folks looking for to go away Gaza for pressing medical care. Not more than two members of the family are allowed to accompany the sufferers.

Round 20,000 Gazans are ready to obtain medical care overseas, in line with the Gaza Well being Ministry. On the present fee of crossings, it might take greater than a yr to get all of those individuals to well being services overseas.

This map reveals Israel’s so-called “yellow line”. The components of the Gaza Strip behind this line (in yellow on the map) are nonetheless occupied by the Israeli military. The peace plan that went into impact on October 10 requires the road to be progressively moved again, till the Israeli Military has withdrawn from the territory and has been changed by a global armed pressure. Hamas and the Israeli Military each accuse each other of violating the ceasefire that's a part of the plan. Israel continues to bomb areas exterior of the yellow line. © France Médias Monde graphics studio ‘My son’s title hasn’t been chosen. How lengthy will he have to attend?’ The day by day trickle of evacuations has created a tough scenario for individuals who want medical care exterior of the Gaza Strip. That’s the case for 10-year-old Ibrahim – whose title has been modified to guard his anonymity – who grew to become paraplegic after his backbone was injured in an Israeli bomb assault in the summertime of 2025. One among his arms was additionally amputated. His household shared each pictures and medical paperwork with our workforce.

Khadija (not her actual title), his mom, desires to journey to Egypt with him as quickly as attainable in order that her son can obtain medical care.

"My son can’t stroll. He's presently in a hospital targeted on rehabilitation. However due to a scarcity of beds, he can solely keep right here for 2 or three months though he wants six to seven months of care. That implies that earlier than his situation can enhance, he must return to struggling in our tent.

He additionally wants a brand new prosthetic hand. One was made for him on the Jordanian hospital right here within the Gaza Strip, nevertheless it doesn’t work for him. It precipitated an irritation, so he received’t put on it and may’t use it for his rehabilitation remedy.

That’s why we hope that he can cross in order that he can proceed his remedy overseas and get a brand new prosthetic. Furthermore, his father is already in Egypt – he left earlier than the warfare. He desires to see his son and his son desires to see him."

To this point, Ibrahim has not been a kind of fortunate sufficient to be evacuated. His mom is afraid that he'll stay trapped within the Gaza Strip for months.

"His title hasn’t been chosen. We're struggling, ready for our flip to go away.

They reopened the crossing, however it's like nothing is definitely occurring as a result of they're letting so few individuals via. Some individuals who have been capable of go away advised us that they've been on the listing for 2 years. How lengthy will my son have to attend?”

These pictures, posted on X on February 15, 2026, by Abdallah al-Attar, a Palestinian journalist dwelling in Gaza, present a bus transporting individuals in want of pressing medical care to the Rafah border crossing. It's accompanied by autos belonging to the Palestinian Pink Crescent and the UN. To show this content material from X (Twitter), you could allow commercial monitoring and viewers measurement.

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‘I’m on the finish of my financial savings, and I can’t work right here as a journalist’ On the opposite facet of the Rafah crossing, in Egypt, journalist Hamza Chalan can be ready. Chalan desires to return to his homeland, which he left in Could 2024, only a few days earlier than Israel took management of the Rafah border crossing and crossings grew to become inconceivable. He was one of many first individuals to join voluntary return on the Palestinian embassy in Cairo.

"I went to Cairo with my mother and father simply earlier than it grew to become inconceivable to cross. It was very costly [Editor’s note: he says it was several thousand euros], however my father wanted dialysis, which was not out there in Gaza. He died final yr.”

Alongside the loss, Hamza Chalan says that he additionally desires to return to Gaza as a result of he finds it practically inconceivable to make ends meet in Egypt. He says he needed to promote a few of his skilled tools to pay for meals and lodging.

"Going to Egypt was the fitting resolution, I don’t remorse it. However I'm on the finish of my financial savings, and since I don’t have the fitting paperwork, I'm unable to work right here. So we're surviving month to month.

In Gaza, I can work as a journalist once more. Whereas I used to be there, I used to be working for Danish Nationwide Tv, I used to be a part of the manufacturing workforce on a documentary, and I labored as a correspondent for different media shops. I wish to return to doing what I like. Returning to Gaza is a tough resolution if you don’t have work there, however that’s not my scenario.

I even have household tasks in Gaza. I've eight sisters who stayed there, they usually need assistance. My mom might be 70 quickly and he or she desires to see her daughters.”

‘They are saying that there are armed gangs on the crossing who look via your baggage’ Hamza Chalan has regarded into the numerous searches and checks that you could bear to return. He says he's taking a look at them with a mixture of worry and optimism.

"From what I’ve heard from colleagues who've already crossed, you first must undergo Egyptian checkpoints after which Palestinian checkpoints, run by the Palestinian Authority [Editor’s note: the Palestinian Authority is based in the West Bank. Gaza’s government is controlled by Hamas]. Then, I’ve heard that armed gangs look via your baggage. They may hardly allow you to take something throughout – I do know, for instance, that I received’t be capable of carry again my journalistic tools. They interrogate you as nicely – you're at their mercy. Then, lastly, they convey you to the Israelis, the place you need to undergo the identical factor.

I’m not frightened about their questions. I'm not concerned in something political or any armed group. But when any member of your loved ones is linked to one thing, then it may all go very badly. The gangs are made up of people that escaped from jail. The crossing may be very dangerous, however right here, we face loss of life by a thousand cuts anyway."

Our workforce has already documented the existence of armed gangs in Gaza, a few of that are supported by the Israeli Military and function in areas below its management. A minimum of one in all these gangs is run by a former convict, Yasser Abu Shabab, a former drug vendor. He has since been killed in a conflict in December 2025.

We haven’t been capable of independently confirm a number of eyewitness accounts that these gangs are working on the Rafah crossing. We are going to publish the knowledge we're gathering on the subject as quickly as attainable.

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Strive once more

There are no less than seven factions and clans difficult Hamas’s authority in Gaza, every holding sway over a small patch of territory. © Observers / Upian "I'm ready, however I don’t even know if I can cross into Gaza. If I'm rejected in Egypt, that can actually be loopy. It’s the worst time in my life – I've no actual selection, no freedom, every little thing is exterior of my management. As a Palestinian, I've no proper to self-determination. However we nonetheless put one foot in entrance of the opposite, nonetheless maintain on to hope.”