Rafah Border Reopens When Death Toll In Gaza Continues To Increase

JAKARTA - The Rafah border reopened on Monday, allowing wounded foreigners and Palestinians to move from Gaza to Egypt, after being closed over the weekend, an Egyptian border official said.

Rafah is the only Gaza border crossing left out of control by Israel, which closed its crossings with the region last month.

Last week, a breakthrough was reached to allow foreign passport holders and seriously injured civilians to exit Gaza via Rafah.

However, the border was closed over the weekend, as Israeli airstrikes hit the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance.

As part of Monday's reopening, a total of nine Palestinians seriously injured as a result of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza have crossed over to receive treatment at an Egyptian hospital, the official said.

Five people accompanied the injured, added the official.

According to a CNN tally, the total number of Palestinians who had been transferred to Egypt for treatment was 93 people.

An ambulance from Egypt's Red Crescent had marched near the border on Monday, before injured Palestinians were allowed to cross, waiting to take them to the hospital.

Separately, the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that the death toll from Israeli attacks in the region had reached 10,000.

Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al Qudra said 10,022 Palestinians in the enclave were killed in Israeli attacks, including 4,104 children, 2,641 women and 611 elderly people.

These figures show about three-quarters of the death toll comes from vulnerable populations. The ministry also reported 25,408 others injured.

On the Israeli side, local authorities said about 1,400 people were killed and 240 others were held hostage, following an attack by the Hamas militant group on October 7 to the southern region of the country.