​This is a breaking news story, more details to follow.  Read More  Breaking News

The Rafah border crossing has opened for the first time in nearly nine months to allow sick and wounded Palestinian patients in Gaza to travel to Egypt for medical treatment.

Health ministry in Gaza on Saturday said a group of 50 patients are set to cross Rafah to reach Egypt.

Egyptian television showed a Palestinian Red Cross ambulance pulling up to the crossing gate, and several children brought out on stretchers and transferred to ambulances on the Egyptian side.

The reopening of the Rafah crossing represents a significant breakthrough that bolsters the ceasefire deal Israel and Hamas agreed to earlier this month.

Israel agreed to reopen the crossing after Hamas released the last living female captives in Gaza.

More to come…

 

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