Rafah crossing closure leaves Gaza patients without treatment

Envoys from Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ meet Hamas leaders in Cairo

GAZA CITY: The continued closure of the Rafah Crossing has left thousands of Palestinian patients stranded inside the Gaza Strip, unable to travel abroad for urgently needed medical treatment, as families warn that delays could cost lives.

Among those waiting is Alma, a young girl suffering from a lung cyst who has been hospitalised at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis for more than three months. Her mother, Abu Rheida, had prepared all documents and arrangements for the child to travel to Jordan for surgery that cannot be performed in Gaza due to limited medical resources.

However, just a day before their scheduled trip on March 1, Israeli authorities closed Gaza’s border crossings indefinitely, citing security concerns linked to regional tensions and a military escalation involving Iran. The decision dashed the family’s hopes of obtaining life-saving treatment for Alma.

“She cannot survive without oxygen,” her mother said from the hospital ward, explaining that the child becomes extremely exhausted whenever oxygen support is removed. Doctors have warned that surgery abroad is the only viable option to remove the cyst and allow Alma to live a normal life.

The Rafah crossing, Gaza’s primary gateway to the outside world, had briefly reopened on February 1 under limited arrangements following a temporary ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. The reopening allowed a small number of wounded patients and urgent medical cases to travel abroad.

However, thousands remained on waiting lists before the crossing was shut again on February 28, halting medical evacuations and leaving critically ill patients trapped.

For some families, the consequences have already been devastating. Thirty-two-year-old Hadeel Zorob lost her two children, six-year-old Sohaib and eight-year-old Lana, who both suffered from a rare genetic disease that gradually deteriorates body functions. The children had been waiting for permission to travel abroad for specialised treatment that was unavailable in Gaza.

“I watched my children die one after the other without being able to help them,” Zorob said, recalling how Lana was only days away from travelling before her condition worsened fatally.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 20,000 patients and wounded individuals are currently waiting to travel abroad for medical care. The list includes about 4,000 cancer patients, nearly 4,500 children and hundreds of cases requiring urgent life-saving treatment. Meanwhile,  wnvoys from United States President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” have met representatives of Hamas in Cairo in an effort to safeguard the Gaza ceasefire, under serious strain since the US and Israel began bombing Iran. The weekend meeting is the first publicly reported since the start of the Iran war between the Palestinian group and the board, a new international body personally headed by Trump, which has been tasked with overseeing post-conflict Gaza. Monitoring Desk