Israeli authorities halted the transfer of sick and wounded people from Gaza through the Rafah border crossing on Wednesday, two days after it was reopened, a Palestinian health official said.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society was informed of Israel's decision by the World Health Organisation (WHO), a spokesman told the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Red Crescent spokesman Raed Al Nims said the patients had arrived at a hospital in Khan Younis in preparation for the crossing through Rafah for treatment in Egypt, to be informed that Israel had postponed the evacuations. “This came as a surprise to the concerned authorities and the patients,” he said.
Five patients from Gaza crossed into Egypt on Monday and another 16 on Tuesday, along with their companions.
Cogat, the Israeli agency that controls access to Gaza, said the crossing remained open but that the WHO, “which is responsible for co-ordinating the arrival of residents from the Gaza Strip to the Rafah Crossing, has not submitted the required co-ordination details at this stage for procedural reasons”.
“Once the co-ordination details are submitted as agreed upon, the transfer of patients and their companions into Egypt via the Rafah Crossing will be facilitated,” the agency said.
There was no immediate comment from the WHO.
Reopening the Rafah crossing was one of the terms of a ceasefire that began in October as part of the first phase of US President Donald Trump's plan to stop fighting after two years of war in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
In January, US officials announced the start of the second phase of the ceasefire, in which a Palestinian technocratic committee would take over the daily administration of Hamas-controlled areas from the militant group.
Key points of the second phase, such as the further withdrawal of Israeli forces, who currently occupy more than 50 per cent of Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas and the deployment of an International Stabilisation Force to maintain security in the strip, remain unresolved.
A Board of Peace, chaired by Mr Trump, will oversee the implementation of the plan and the reconstruction of Gaza.
Deadly Israeli strikes
Israel has continued to carry out near-daily attacks that have killed more than 530 people since the ceasefire came into effect, according to Gaza health officials. Palestinian militants have killed four Israeli soldiers in the same period, according to Israeli authorities.
At least 21 people were killed and 28 others were wounded in Israeli attacks on Wednesday, Gaza's Health Ministry said, without providing details.
Earlier in the day, Wafa put the toll at 18. It quoted medical sources as saying that 14 people were killed, including three children, in artillery shelling in Al Zeitoun and Al Tuffah neighbourhoods in eastern Gaza city. Another four people were killed, including a child, in attacks in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the sources said
The Israeli military said tank fire and air strikes were launched after a gunman shot at Israeli soldiers and seriously injured a reservist.
On Saturday, Israel shelling and bombardment killed at least 32 people, including children, in one of the deadliest breaches of the ceasefire.
Israel's two-year offensive on the Gaza Strip has killed more than 71,800 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, displaced most of its population, and left much of the Palestinian enclave in ruins.
The October 7, 2023, Hamas attack that triggered the war killed around 1,200 people in Israel, according to Israeli tallies.
