A key border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt is expected to partially open Monday, with Egyptian officials readying help for sick and injured Palestinians.
Dozens of ambulances have assembled at the crossing on the Egyptian side. Hospitals in North Sinai are also on high alert and prepared to receive Palestinians arriving from Gaza in need of care.
Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said in a statement Sunday that a "pilot was underway to test and assess the operation of the crossing."
"The movement of residents in both directions, entry and exit to and from Gaza, is expected to begin tomorrow," it said.
Trucks full of aid supplies were photographed entering Egypt's Rafah Gate on Sunday.
COGAT had said Friday that the crossing would open Sunday for the “limited movement of people only,” with entry and exits from Gaza permitted “in coordination with Egypt, following prior security clearance of individuals by Israel.”
For residents who left Gaza during the war, re-entry will only be permitted after clearance by Israel and additional screening and identification processes, the statement said.
Khaled Mujawir, the governor of Egypt’s North Sinai province, told NBC News that preparations to open the crossing had been completed in cooperation with international representatives from Europe and Israel.
He said that 150 wounded, injured and sick Palestinians from Gaza were expected to arrive in Egypt on Monday and that more than 150 Egyptian ambulances were stationed on the Egyptian side of the crossing.
The Associated Press, citing an Israeli official, had reported Saturday that 50 medical evacuees would be permitted to exit Gaza each day, with two relatives apiece.
Zaher al-Wahidi, head of the Gaza Health Ministry’s documentation department, told The Associated Press that the ministry hasn’t yet been notified about the start of medical evacuations.
European Union border officers are expected to assist with operations at the crossing, consistent with past operations in Rafah. Shadi Othman, media officer at the European Union Office in Jerusalem, said the primary objective is to ensure the crossing is open in both directions, allowing for the smooth entry and exit of residents.
The E.U.'s role is focused on monitoring the implementation of agreed-upon standards, he said.
The opening comes just days after the remains of the last hostage held by Hamas in Gaza, 24-year-old police officer Ran Gvili, were returned to Israel on Monday, completing a key pillar of the truce after tensions over delays and accusations of ceasefire violations. Israel has repeatedly postponed reopening the crossing, signaling it would not open until the bodies of all the hostages were recovered.
The Rafah crossing, the main checkpoint between Gaza and Egypt, has long been one of the only gateways to the rest of the world for Palestinians living in the enclave, which has a heavily fortified border with Israel on two sides, while an Israeli naval blockade prevents travel by sea.
The crossing with Egypt is now considered a lifeline for the tens of thousands in need of treatment outside the territory, where the majority of medical infrastructure has been destroyed.
The reopening marks the first major step of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire’s second phase, after the first phase came into effect nearly four months ago.
The second stage of the truce will also require the disarmament of Hamas, a key sticking point in negotiations, as well as the development of Trump’s international force to oversee security in Gaza.
For months, only Gvili’s remains had yet to be returned, with Israel announcing their recovery Monday after launching a sweeping operation to locate them amid mounting pressure from the Trump administration to move forward with the next phase of the deal.
Hundreds of thousands of families across Gaza have been forced to wait out the first phase of the ceasefire in makeshift tents with little protection from the winter weather, as heavy rains flooded campsites.
While the ceasefire brought an end to the most severe attacks on the enclave, Israel has killed more than 500 people in Gaza since the ceasefire began, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in the enclave, with Israel and Hamas both accusing the other of violating the truce.
Hospitals in Gaza said Israeli strikes killed at least 29 Palestinians Saturday, one of the highest tolls since the October ceasefire began.
Israel’s military said in a statement that Saturday’s strikes followed what it described as ceasefire violations a day earlier, when the army killed at least four militants emerging from a tunnel in an Israeli-controlled area.
For Palestinians on the ground, the crossing reopening would be a small glimmer of light.
“We hope the Rafah crossing opens so we can travel freely and meet many of our family members, those who have been forcibly displaced outside the Gaza Strip,” Duaa Basem Al-Masri, a 26-year-old pharmacist from Beit Hanoun, told NBC News earlier this week.
She hoped the progress would soon also see the entry of “medical aid, medicines and proper shelter equipment into the strip, to ease the suffering” in Gaza.
“We hope there will be international pressure on them from President Donald Trump,” Basem Al-Masri said.
