The Rafah Border Crossing reopened on Saturday, the first opening of the gateway to Egypt since Israel captured the Gaza side nearly nine months ago.

Officials familiar with the discussions said the crossing was to be run by Palestinian Authority representatives alongside monitors from the European Union.

A group of sick and wounded Palestinian children began crossing to Egypt on Saturday, according to officials from the Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip.

According to Hebrew-language media reports, wounded Hamas fighters were also set to cross to Egypt, as agreed to under the terms of the hostage and ceasefire agreement.

The reopening of the Rafah crossing represented a significant breakthrough that bolstered the agreement Israel and Hamas agreed to earlier this month.

Egyptian television showed Palestinian Red Cross ambulances pulling up to the crossing gate, and children were brought out on stretchers and transferred to ambulances on the Egyptian side. Gaza’s health ministry said around 60 family members were accompanying the children.

The children were the first in what are meant to be regular evacuations of Palestinians through the crossing for treatment abroad.

Over the past 15 months, the war in Gaza sparked by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, has decimated the Strip’s health sector, leaving most of its hospitals out of operation.

Mohammed Zaqout, the director of hospitals in Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, said more than 6,000 patients were ready to be evacuated abroad, and more than 12,000 patients were in urgent need of treatment.

He said the small numbers set to be evacuated will not cover the need, “and we hope the number will increase.”

The Rafah Crossing with Egypt was one of the main entry points into the Gaza Strip and a vital conduit for aid, but the border has been closed since Israeli forces seized it in May last year, largely due to Egyptian refusal to keep the passage open so long as Israeli forces held it.

It took some diplomatic gymnastics to reopen the crossing and overcome security disputes between Israeli, Egyptian and Palestinian officials. Hamas had overseen the border since 2007, when it seized control of Gaza from its rival, the Palestinian Authority.

Management of the crossing is a sensitive issue — Israel has long accused Hamas of using its control of the border to smuggle weapons.

Israel has also refused to allow the Palestinian Authority to officially take over management of the crossing.

Instead, the crossing will be staffed by Palestinians from Gaza who previously served as border officers with the PA, but they will not be allowed to wear official PA insignia, a European diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to brief the media.

Israel has screened the officers to ensure they have no affiliation with Hamas, the European diplomat added.

European Union monitors will also be present, as they were before 2007.