![12 Palestinian patients, including nine women, three children, and one elderly individual, arrive at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis after crossing back into the Gaza Strip through the Rafah Border Crossing in Khan Yunis, Gaza on February 2, 2026. [Saeed M. M. T. Jaras - Anadolu Agency]](https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/AA-20260202-40442909-40442903-12_PALESTINIAN_PATIENTS_RETURN_TO_GAZA_THROUGH_RAFAH_CROSSING-1.jpg)
In most parts of the world, a patient’s journey to treatment begins at the hospital door. In Gaza, it begins at the door of politics, passes through layers of security and often never reaches a doctor at all. The occupation has reduced the Gazan to a dossier, rather than a human life. What is being presented today as the “opening” of the Rafah crossing cannot in all seriousness be described as a breakthrough for humanitarian effort. Rather, it’s a re-engineering of the siege, repackaged in calmer language and administered with tighter control. Movement is not governed by need or rights, but by lists, quotas and prior security approvals, turning the most basic human necessities into temporary exemptions. Under the current […]
