osni Nedim and Ramzi Mahmud
04 February 2026•Update: 05 February 2026
GAZA, Palestine
Israeli officials canceled coordination for evacuating the third batch of patients and injured people from the Gaza Strip through the Rafah land crossing, leading to the postponement of their departure, which had been scheduled for Wednesday, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said.
Spokesman Raed Al-Nems told Anadolu that the World Health Organization informed them of the cancellation without providing reasons.
Al-Nems said the Red Crescent’s teams were fully prepared to evacuate patients from Al-Amal Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, but the last-minute cancellation of coordination prevented the operation from being carried out.
The society is awaiting the resumption of coordination in hopes that the third batch of patients and wounded can be evacuated on Thursday, given the difficult humanitarian and health conditions faced by patients inside the Gaza Strip, he added.
Official estimates in Gaza indicate that around 22,000 wounded and sick people seek to leave the Strip for medical treatment abroad, amid the collapse of Gaza’s healthcare sector due to Israel’s genocidal war.
In a limited manner and under extremely strict restrictions, Israel reopened the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing on Monday, which it has occupied since May 2024.
According to Egyptian and Israeli media, some 50 Palestinians are scheduled to cross daily into Gaza and a similar number into Egypt, including patients and their companions, but this has not occurred to date.
Since Monday's reopening, 52 Palestinians arrived in Gaza and 60 departed the territory through the border frontier.
Semi-official Palestinian data indicate that around 80,000 Palestinians have registered their names to return to Gaza, clearly reflecting Palestinians’ insistence on rejecting displacement and holding fast to their right of return despite the massive destruction across the enclave.
Israel has insisted that only Palestinians from Gaza would be allowed to return to the Strip if they left after the outbreak of the war.
Testimonies from returnees, including elderly people and children, showed that they were subjected to harassment and harsh Israeli military interrogation at the crossing.
Israel was supposed to reopen the crossing during the first phase of a ceasefire agreement, which came into effect on October 10, 2025, but it backed down on its commitment.
The ceasefire ended an Israeli offensive that began in October 2023 and lasted two years, killing nearly 72,000 Palestinians and wounding over 171,000 others, while destroying about 90% of Gaza’s infrastructure. Israel also continues to carry out attacks in violation of the ceasefire agreement.
*Writing by Serdar Dincel
