Rafah

As Palestinians in Gaza try to return to some form of normality in their lives, they express how their families have been affected by the closure of the Rafah crossing, in addition to the Iran war.

The crossing with Egypt is considered vital for the delivery of humanitarian aid and the evacuation of critically ill patients.

Israel has closed Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt amid the joint Israeli-United States attacks on Iran.

“Several necessary security adjustments have been implemented, including the closure of the crossings into the Gaza Strip, among them the Rafah Crossing, until further notice,” Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said in a statement.

The Rafah crossing, located on Gaza’s southern border, had reopened only last month, allowing a limited number of Palestinians to leave for the first time in months, including patients in urgent need of medical care.

The crossing is considered vital for the delivery of humanitarian aid and the evacuation of critically ill patients.

Virtually all of Gaza’s population of more than two million people was displaced during Israel’s genocidal war on the territory, and the enclave remains heavily dependent on humanitarian assistance.

In mid-February, the United Nations said it continued to face impediments in delivering lifesaving aid to Gaza.

In a February report, Human Rights Watch said Israeli restrictions had contributed to shortages of medicines, reconstruction materials, food and water inside the Strip.

COGAT claimed that sufficient food had entered Gaza since the start of the ceasefire to meet four times the nutritional needs of the population. However, it did not provide any evidence to back its claim.

“The substantial quantities of food that have entered since the beginning of the ceasefire amount to four times the nutritional needs of the population,” the Israeli defence body said. “Therefore, the existing stock is expected to suffice for an extended period.”

It added that “the closure of the crossings will have no impact on the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip”, saying it would remain in contact with the international community and provide updates on any developments.

COGAT is the Israeli military body responsible for overseeing civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory. Critics say it functions as an instrument of surveillance and control, particularly in enforcing movement restrictions and closures.

The latest deaths come as just 260 people, out of 18,500 in urgent need, have been allowed to seek medical care via the crossing to Egypt, the United Nations says.

Israeli fire has killed at least two Palestinians in separate incidents across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, as Israel continues to block thousands of Palestinians from seeking urgent medical attention through the partially-reopened Rafah crossing in its ongoing, more than two-year genocidal war on the enclave.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent on the ground reported that one child was killed in the northern Strip when an Israeli drone targeted children on their way to check their destroyed homes in the area.

Meanwhile, soldiers opened fire on and killed Muhand Jamal al-Najjar, 20, near the Bani Suheila roundabout east of the city of Khan Younis, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Gaza hospital sources told Al Jazeera that Israeli fire also wounded three Palestinians in al-Mughraqa in the central Strip and the al-Mawasi area of Rafah to the south. 

Since the “ceasefire”, which Israel has violated on a near-daily basis, took effect in mid-October, more than 600 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,600 wounded, according to the latest figures released by the Palestinian Ministry of Health earlier this week.

Limited reopening

The latest deaths come as the Israeli military maintains its blockade on Palestinians looking to exit Gaza via the Rafah crossing to Egypt for medical care.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has tallied a total of 260 patients leaving Gaza since the first day of reopening two and a half weeks ago, the office told Al Jazeera on Wednesday – a small fraction of the roughly 18,500 people who desperately require evacuation.

The figure even falls short of an earlier promise from an Egyptian border official that at least 50 Palestinians would cross in each direction starting from the first day. Instead, just five patients were permitted to leave.

Human rights and medical groups, including the World Health Organization (WHO), have repeatedly called for Palestinians to be able to access critical care outside Gaza.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on social media earlier this month that the body wanted to see an “immediate reopening of the medical referral route to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem”, and for more countries to accept patients for specialised care not available in the Strip.

But Gaza’s health system – which Israel has largely decimated since starting its war on the embattled enclave in October 2023 – must look to “reduce reliance on medical evacuations”, he added.

“This is now the top priority,” Tedros said, ticking off necessities including scaling up health services inside Gaza, stocking fresh medical supplies, and repairing damaged facilities.

The rate of return to Gaza through the checkpoint has also been slow: 269 people had passed into Gaza as of February 11, OCHA said in its latest report.

One recent batch – made up of 41 people who were transported to Nasser Medical Complex – said Israeli soldiers subjected them to humiliating physical searches and intense interrogations, an Al Jazeera team reported.

Returnees have previously recounted being blindfolded during hours of political interrogations and psychological pressure before being allowed to re-enter Gaza.