The reopening of the Rafah crossing in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday after more than a year is being met with both optimism and fear, a senior official with the UN agency that assists the Palestinian people, UNRWA, has said.
The sole border point with Egypt is a lifeline to the world - including for thousands of severely ill or injured Palestinians who require medical treatment outside the enclave, where last October's fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas continues to hold.
However, the development comes after reports of violence over the weekend, with the UN voicing concern over the killing of civilians and Israeli airstrikes.
"As we have seen so many times throughout this conflict, we're seeing really competing dynamics here: on the one hand, positive progress when it comes to the re-opening of Rafah, and yet over the past 24 hours, 30 Palestinians were killed in airstrikes during a ceasefire," Sam Rose, Acting Director of UNRWA Affairs in Gaza told the BBC.
Reopening the Rafah crossing was an integral part of the 20-point peace plan put forward by US President Donald Trump last September, with the ceasefire announced days later.
For now, Israel will only allow some 50 Palestinians to enter and exit Gaza each day - and only on foot, international news agencies have reported.
The crossing will be coordinated with Egypt and supervised by the European Union, according to the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA.
Monday also saw the World Health Organization supporting medical evacuation efforts.
Some patients and their companions were able to exit Gaza directly to Egypt, while others transited through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom border crossing.
The last medical evacuation through the Rafah crossing was in May 2024. Overall, more than 18,500 patients in Gaza, including 4,000 children, are still waiting to access treatment abroad, according to OCHA.
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