GAZA CITY (Dispatches) – Some 46 sick and injured Palestinians left the Gaza Strip via the Rafah border crossing into Egypt on Sunday for treatment, a medical source said.  
The terminal was reopened on Saturday after more than eight months of closure due to Israeli military operations in the southern Gaza Strip. 
“Some 46 Palestinian patients and wounded individuals, alongside their companions, left Gaza via the Rafah crossing,” the source told Anadolu. 
He said cancer patients made up the majority of people who crossed the terminal on Sunday. 
According to the source, around 50 patients and injured individuals will leave Gaza every day for treatment under the supervision of the World Health Organization (WHO). 
On Saturday, around 50 children and patients left the enclave, marking the first movement through the Rafah crossing since its closure in May 2024. 
On Jan. 19, the first six-week phase of a ceasefire agreement and prisoner exchange between Hamas and the Zionist regime went into effect, halting Tel Aviv’s genocidal war that has killed nearly 47,500 people and injured more than 111,500 others since October 2023. 
Health experts warned that rebuilding Gaza’s healthcare system, which has completely collapsed due to the Zionist regime’s onslaught, will take at least 12 years.
This alarming estimate was shared during a solidarity event titled “The Great Protest in the White Tent”, held on Sunday in front of the United Nations office in Geneva, Switzerland. Organized by a group of healthcare professionals, the event aimed to highlight the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, WAFA news agency reported.
Hussein Durmaz, a Turkish activist and member of the International Health Initiative, announced the formation of a “global health alliance for Gaza”, with more than 100 health organizations from over 12 countries actively involved in the protest. He added that organizations from 50+ countries have signed statements or held simultaneous solidarity protests.
According to activists at the event, even if unrestricted humanitarian aid and reconstruction efforts were allowed, restoring Gaza’s healthcare system would take at least 12 years due to the massive destruction.”
As healthcare workers, we are particularly affected by what is happening to our colleagues in Palestine,” said Nouria Belhaj, a French-Algerian health worker participating in the event. “We consider it our sacred duty to stand in full solidarity with them,” Belhaj added.
Dutch health worker Sarah Ghali called on the United Nations to protect healthcare workers in Gaza and the West Bank, emphasizing that “they are under attack on an unprecedented scale”.
Ghali also highlighted the catastrophic state of Gaza’s healthcare system, reporting that over 1,400 attacks on medical facilities have occurred since October 7, 2023, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,000 healthcare workers.
The Geneva protest is part of a larger global movement demanding urgent international action to address the severe healthcare crisis in Gaza and support its long-term reconstruction.