ISRAEL announced today that it will allow the reopening of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

The Israelis say they allow the vital crossing to be reopened tomorrow after more than two weeks of closure.

The Co-ordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (Cogat), an Israeli military body in charge of co-ordinating aid to Gaza, said in a statement that the crossing will resume operations with “limited” passenger traffic in both directions.

No cargo will be allowed through the crossing, it said.

Cogat said procedures will be the same as before the crossing closed after Israel and the US launched their illegal and unprovoked attack on Iran on February 28.

Since its opening earlier this year, Israel has allowed only a limited evacuation of patients and wounded people for treatment outside Gaza — a fraction of more than 20,000 requiring medical evacuations, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Some Palestinians who were treated in Egypt during the war were also allowed to return to the strip. Some of the returnees reported abuses by Israeli troops once they crossed the Palestinian gate of the crossing.

Thousands of Palestinians have been denied urgently needed medical evacuation during the crossing closure.

On February 28, Alma Abu Reida was just a few hours away from what she hoped would change the fate of her sick infant daughter, Alma.

The family had been informed that the four-month-old baby girl could leave but the Israelis closed the crossing after it launched its attack on Iran.

Alma is still waiting to leave.

But even an open crossing did not mean that Palestinians in need of evacuation would get across the border.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 20,000 patients and wounded Palestinians are waiting to exit the enclave for medical treatment.

The number waiting to leave includes 4,000 cancer patients and around 4,500 children.

The Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights has described the closure of Rafah a form of collective punishment being meted out to the Palestinians of Gaza.

The rights group warned the closure “sentences more patients to death” and deepens Gaza’s dire humanitarian crisis.

Meanwhile, the Israelis have continued to carry out air strikes in Gaza.

On Sunday, at least 13 Palestinians were killed by the Israelis in air attacks across the Gaza Strip, according to local officials and hospital authorities.

The Israeli military has not immediately commented on the reported attacks.