GAZA CITY: The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said 50 Palestinian patients, including 30 children with cancer, went through the Rafah crossing to Egypt on Saturday as the key gateway reopened as part of a ceasefire deal.
Egyptian state-linked channel Al-Qahera News showed footage of the first of 50 evacuees, including a child with an autoimmune disease, and their 53 companions crossing the border into Egypt to receive treatment.
“From the medical files, 50 were approved by Egypt. We hope for this number to increase,” said Muhammad Zaqout, the director of Gaza hospitals.
“We now have 6,000 cases ready to be transferred, and more than 12,000 cases that are in dire need of treatment.”
The group that crossed via Rafah on Saturday included the 30 child cancer patients, 19 injured men and one injured woman, along with their companions, Zaqout said.
The Rafah crossing had been closed since Israel seized its Palestinian side in May.
The crossing was one of the main entry points into the Palestinian territory and a vital conduit for aid.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Friday that the 27-member bloc had deployed a monitoring mission at the Rafah crossing “at the request of the Palestinians and the Israelis.”
“It will support Palestinian border personnel and allow the transfer of individuals out of Gaza, including those who need medical care,” she wrote on X.
The reopening of the gateway came as Israel and Hamas carried out their fourth hostage-prisoner swap under the Gaza ceasefire, which came into effect on January 19.
Hamas released three Israeli hostages from Gaza on Saturday in exchange for more than 180 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
Health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says 50 patients cross into Egypt via Rafah
https://arab.news/vzbac
Health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says 50 patients cross into Egypt via Rafah
- “From the medical files, 50 were approved by Egypt. We hope for this number to increase,” said Muhammad Zaqout, the director of Gaza hospitals
- “We now have 6,000 cases ready to be transferred, and more than 12,000 cases that are in dire need of treatment“
US makes plans to reopen embassy in Syria after 14 years
- The administration has been considering re-opening the embassy since last year
- Trump told reporters on Friday that Al-Sharaa was “doing a phenomenal job” as president
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration has informed Congress that it intends to proceed with planning for a potential re-opening of the US Embassy in Damascus, Syria, which was shuttered in 2012 during the country’s civil war.
A notice to congressional committees earlier this month, which was obtained by The Associated Press, informed lawmakers of the State Department’s “intent to implement a phased approach to potentially resume embassy operations in Syria.”
The Feb. 10 notification said that spending on the plans would begin in 15 days, or next week, although there was no timeline offered for when they would be complete or when US personnel might return to Damascus on a full-time basis.
The administration has been considering re-opening the embassy since last year, shortly after longtime strongman Bashar Assad was ousted in December 2024, and it has been a priority for President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Turkiye and special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack.
Barrack has pushed for a deep rapprochement with Syria and its new leadership under former rebel Ahmad Al-Sharaa and has successfully advocated for the lifting of US sanctions and a reintegration of Syria into the regional and international communities.
Trump told reporters on Friday that Al-Sharaa was “doing a phenomenal job” as president. “He’s a rough guy. He’s not a choir boy. A choir boy couldn’t do it,” Trump said. “But Syria’s coming together.”
Last May, Barrack visited Damascus and raised the US flag at the embassy compound, although the embassy was not yet re-opened.
The same day the congressional notification was sent, Barrack lauded Syria’s decision to participate in the coalition that is combating the Daesh militant group, even as the US military has withdrawn from a small, but important, base in the southeast and there remain significant issues between the government and the Kurdish minority.
“Regional solutions, shared responsibility. Syria’s participation in the D-Daesh Coalition meeting in Riyadh marks a new chapter in collective security,” Barrack said.
The embassy re-opening plans are classified and the State Department declined to comment on details beyond confirming that the congressional notification was sent.
However, the department has taken a similar “phased” approach in its plans to re-open the US Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela, following the US military operation that ousted former President Nicolás Maduro in January, with the deployment of temporary staffers who would live in and work out of interim facilities.
