Sick and wounded children begin crossing into Egypt as Rafah crossing opens after several months Winnipeg Free Press [Video]

RAFAH CROSSING, Egypt (AP) — A group of 50 sick and wounded Palestinian children began entering Egypt for treatment through Gaza’s Rafah crossing on Saturday, the first opening of the border since Israel captured it nearly nine months ago. Thousands of other Palestinians need such evacuations, health officials have said.

The reopening of the Rafah crossing represents a significant breakthrough that bolsters the ceasefire deal Israel and Hamas reached last month. Israel agreed to reopen the crossing after Hamas released the last living female hostages in Gaza. Rafah is Gaza’s only crossing that does not enter into Israel.

Egypt’s Al-Qahera television showed several children being brought out on gurneys and transferred to ambulances on the Egyptian side. They were rushed to hospitals in the nearby Egyptian city of el-Arish and elsewhere. Footage showed one young girl whose foot had been amputated.

Zaher al-Wahidi, an official with Gaza’s Health Ministry, said …