Reopening the Rafah crossing was, inevitably, not straightforward

It was inevitable, of course. How could anyone have thought that the reopening of the Rafah crossing could have been straightforward?

Instead, having been told by Israeli authorities that the crossing was open for civilians at breakfast time, the sun was setting by the time anyone actually got across.

And even then, it was only a handful of people who actually moved from Gaza to Egypt.

On the one hand, this first day showed just how tight Israel's control remains.

Of the many, many thousands of people in Gaza who require urgent medical attention, just five have managed to make it to Egypt to get help.

Most of the applications to leave the Strip have, according to medical sources in Gaza, been refused so far.

But on the other, more optimistic, hand, there are five people now receiving medical help that they desperately needed.

Our colleagues went to Khan Younis this morning to meet the people allowed to travel, and their companions - the friends, family members or professionals allowed to journey with them.

Among them was Ahmed, a frail young man who is living with a bullet lodged in his head.

His father told us that the World Health Organisation had endorsed his desperate need for medical help on the basis that he cannot possibly get the operation he requires in Gaza.

Even now, in a modern, well-resourced medical facility, the chances of success are put at 10%. But that is a sliver of hope where previously there had been none.

The plan is to increase the numbers so that 50 patients are evacuated from Gaza each day. But even that figure is dwarfed by the need, by the huge numbers of people with a profound need for help.

"They're going to have to ramp up," says Sam Rose, director of affairs in Gaza for UNRWA, the UN agency that supports Palestinian refugees.

"We've got a backlog of almost 20,000 patients that need to get out. A lot of these people are critically ill and they don't have time on their hands.

"It's going to take months and months to clear that backlog unless we are able to increase the volume of people who are able to cross. 50 people is one coach-load so there's a hope that if this goes well, we will be able to see those numbers increasing."

Rose, like others within the aid sector, is trying to see this limited reopening of the crossing as a cause for optimism.

"It's an incredibly complex and fragile moment, but the stakes are too high," he said.

"We have to be determined and we have to make sure this works, because if we fall back again into a cycle of conflict, the one thing that we do know is this is likely to be worse than the previous phases of conflict.

"So we have no choice but to make sure that this works."

Read more from Sky News:
China executes four over Myanmar-based gambling syndicate
Screenwriter arrested in Iran days after criticising regime

The way that ambition plays out will depend on the opinions of the Israeli government. The reopening of the crossing was, of course, baked into the US-led Gaza peace deal, and for many, its opening is well overdue. But it is part of a wider and more complex tapestry.

Although the Rafah crossing straddles Gaza and Egypt, it is the Israelis who monitor people going in either direction, and they who carry out the security screening of everyone applying to cross.

Israel can easily adjust the taps to increase - or even decrease - the flow of people.

And what will affect that is an array of factors, emanating from its own security apparatus, Israeli politicians, Israeli voters - remember there's a general election later this year - other countries in the region and, crucially, from the office of President Trump.

(c) Sky News 2026: Reopening the Rafah crossing was, inevitably, not straightforward