Egypt opens Rafah border to receive Gaza's wounded

Hospitals in North Sinai ordered by health ministry to receive injured Palestinians

Rockets fired towards Israel from Beit Lahia in northern Gaza on Friday. Anas Baba / AFP

Smoke and flames rise after an Israeli air strike in northern Gaza early on Friday. Gaza’s Health Ministry said 109 Palestinians, including 28 children and 15 women, had been killed by air strikes. EPA

Rockets launched towards Israel from northern Gaza Strip are countered by Israel's Iron Dome missile defence system overnight on Thursday. Seven people in Israel have been killed in the cross-border rocket exchanges. Fatima Shbair / Getty Images

Smoke and flames caused by an Israeli air strike on Gaza city early on Friday. Reuters / Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

A policeman stops traffic to allow police cars to make their way towards reported rioting in Haifa, Israel, on Thursday. Jews and Arabs have been involved in mob violence. Daniel Rolider / Getty Images

A fire blazes in the middle of a street in Haifa's Hadar neighbourhood on Thursday night, as rioting continued in several Israeli cities. Daniel Rolider / Getty Images

Rockets fired towards Israel from Beit Lahia in northern Gaza on Friday. Israel massed troops on the border as barrages were fired by both sides. AFP / Mohammed Abed

Smoke rises over houses in Ashkelon, in southern Israel, after a rocket attack launched from Gaza. Reuters / Amir Cohen

An explosion during an Israeli air strike on Beit Lahia in northern Gaza on Friday. AFP / Mohammed Abed

An explosion lights up the sky during an Israeli air strike on Beit Lahia in northern Gaza on Friday. AFP / Mohammed Abed

A Palestinian family flee from their home in the east of Gaza city during Israeli air strikes early on Friday. EPA / Mohammed Saber

Rockets are fired towards Israel from Rafah in southern Gaza on Friday. AFP / Said Khatib

A field blazes after an explosion in Ramla, Israel, caused by a rocket launched from Gaza on Thursday night. Amir Levy/Getty Images

Palestinian families take shelter in a UN school in Gaza city on Thursday, after fleeing their homes in the town of Beit Lahia. Israel pounded Gaza and sent extra troops to the border as Palestinians fired barrages of rockets back. AFP / Mahmud Hams

A Palestinian family takes shelter in a UN school in Gaza city on Thursday, after after fleeing their home Beit Lahia. AFP / Mahmud Hams

Egyptian authorities announced on Friday that the Rafah border crossing, the sole crossing point between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, will be opened to receive those wounded in the escalating violence between Palestine and Israel that has left many dead and hundreds wounded.

Hospitals in North Sinai have also been given express orders from Egypt’s Ministry of Health to prepare to receive the wounded.

Israel on Monday closed its goods and people crossings with Gaza until further notice. The UN says this has included a ban on humanitarian aid and fuel entering the Palestinian territory.

The announcement came amid escalating violence between Israeli forces and Hamas in which at least seven Israelis and 129 Palestinians were killed.

Tension between the two sides rose in Jerusalem during Ramadan as Palestinians, angered by severe restrictions imposed on them during the holy month, held protests which were met with more austerity from Israeli security forces.

Videos of worshippers being attacked while praying inside Al Aqsa Mosque in the Haram Al Sharif, one of the holiest sites for the world's 1.8 billion Muslims, angered the world, with many decrying Israeli violence.

At the same time, Palestinian residents in the neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem, which Israel occupies, were being threatened with eviction by Jewish settlers, causing tension to escalate even further.

On Monday, Hamas issued an ultimatum to Israel to remove its forces from the Al Aqsa compound and to stop the evictions in Sheikh Jarrah. The group then fired rockets from Gaza, sparking retaliatory shelling from Israel.

Israel’s leadership has continually rebuffed criticism of its actions, arguing vehemently that it is only acting to defend its people and territories from Hamas violence.

Palestinian leaders argue that under the 1949 Armistice Agreement, Israel’s presence in East Jerusalem is a breach of international law.