The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt has reopened to allow a limited number of wounded people and foreign passport holders to flee the war, a Palestinian official told AFP.

The vast majority of Gaza’s 2.4 million residents are unable to escape Israeli bombardment in the aftermath of the Oct 7 by Hamas.

The crossing’s media director on the Palestinian side said Rafah “reopened to transfer the wounded, for foreign nationals to leave and aid trucks to enter”.

An AFP photographer on the Egyptian side saw people on stretchers being transferred into ambulances, as well as children and adults walking across the border.

A vehicle (behind) of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) escorts Palestinian health ministry ambulances transporting injured people to the Rafah crossing with Egypt, from Bureij in the central Gaza Strip on November 9. — AFP
A vehicle (behind) of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) escorts Palestinian health ministry ambulances transporting injured people to the Rafah crossing with Egypt, from Bureij in the central Gaza Strip on November 9. — AFP

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