Only five medical evacuees Due to delays by the Israeli authorities, only 12 Palestinians were allowed to leave Gaza. Rafah border crossing Egypt is finally reopening.

The long-awaited reopening of the territory’s southern border crossing with Egypt on Monday was supposed to ease Gaza’s brutal 18-month military siege.

Instead, Israeli authorities continue to impose strict security restrictions and complex bureaucratic procedures, allowing only a limited number of people to travel in both directions (leaving or entering Gaza) and preventing goods from passing freely through border gates.

The number of people allowed through the Rafah crossing – five patients left Gaza for treatment abroad and 12 returned home on Monday – is far below the 50 people promised by Israeli officials to be allowed in both directions.

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reported earlier on Tuesday from Gaza City that the reopening of the crossing had been a long time coming and the results were far from what was promised.

“After a long wait, this is finally here,” Mahmoud said.

“They were expected to enter the Gaza Strip within the past few hours, but they were detained for a long time, in part because of the lengthy security clearance process set up by the Israeli military at the Rafah crossing,” he said.

“We expect 50 Palestinians to return to the Gaza Strip from Egypt throughout the day, and this is also the expectation of families in the Gaza Strip,” he added.

Instead, a bus carrying 12 people brought the first people home early Tuesday, the first of its kind to enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing in more than 18 months.

One of the many restrictions imposed by Israeli authorities at the crossing is that only those who left Gaza during the war are allowed to re-enter through Rafah after undergoing a strict security clearance process.

While only five Palestinian patients were allowed to leave the Gaza Strip through the crossing on Monday, an estimated 20,000 children and adults Gaza health officials say people in urgent need of medical care are waiting to depart on the Gaza side of the border for treatment in Egypt and elsewhere.

Egypt’s state-run Kahra news channel showed ambulances lining up at the border for hours on Monday, preparing to transport Palestinian patients across the border.

Al Jazeera’s Tariq Abu Azoum, reporting from Khan Younis in southern Gaza, spoke with Randa Abu Mustafa, whose son is blind due to injuries sustained in Israel’s war in the region. He was one of five lucky patients who were allowed to leave hospital on Monday.

Another woman, Shimaa Abu Rida, told Al Jazeera that her daughter Joumana was seriously injured in an Israeli airstrike and was still waiting anxiously to leave.

“People are queuing up hoping to be able to cross the border to Egypt. But with 20,000 patients waiting for approval, most will be disappointed,” said Al Jazeera’s Abu Azzoum.

He said Palestinian lives remained “at the mercy of Israel” as the entry of much-needed medicine and humanitarian supplies remained blocked.

Tom Fletcher, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said a partial reopening of the Rafah crossing would not be enough, stressing that the border post must function as a true humanitarian corridor, Provide life-saving assistance.

Qatar, which helped negotiate the ceasefire that Israel continues to violate at will, welcomed the opening of the Rafah crossing as “a step in the right direction.”

In a statement, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry urged Israel to fully implement the agreement and “ensure sustainable and unimpeded flows of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.”

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterates the firm and permanent position of the State of Qatar in support of the Palestinian cause and the fraternal Palestinian people on the basis of international legality resolutions and the two-state solution, which guarantees the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital,” the ministry added.

Before Israel launched its genocidal war against Gaza, Rafah was the main transit point for people entering and leaving the enclave.

Several other crossings in the territory are shared with Israel, while the Rafah crossing with Egypt was occupied by Israeli forces during the May 2024 war.

Violence continues across the country On Monday, Israeli attacks killed at least three Palestinians in central and northern Gaza.

The Palestinian Wafa news agency reported that Israeli drones bombed a place where people gathered for a funeral in Nuserat, central Gaza, killing two people and injuring many others.

Israeli forces also killed a Palestinian in Halawa camp in the northern Gaza city of Jabaliya.

The latest casualties in Gaza from Monday’s Israeli attacks raised the death toll since October 2023 to at least 71,800, including 171,555 injured, according to the Palestinian health authority.