Egypt's Minister of Health Ahmed Radi told Al-Ahram Arabic late on Monday that Egypt will open four North Sinai hospitals to the rising number of Palestinian protesters wounded by Israeli forces in Gaza in recent days. "High quality emergency care has been prepared to receive the injuries in four different hospitals: Al-Arish, Rafah, Beer Al-Abd and Sheikh Zuweid," said Radi. The ministry also sent seven ambulances across the Rafah border to the Gaza Strip in order to assist with the wounded, Radi added. The health minister also noted that 58 different kinds of medicines and medical materials were sent to the Rafah border crossing to be used to help the injured. Egypt on Monday said that it will keep the Rafah border crossing open and plans to send humanitarian aid into Gaza in response to the wounding of thousands of Palestinian protesters and killing of over 50 by Israeli forces. The Rafah crossing is the only gateway into or out of Gaza that is not controlled by Israeli forces. Palestinians on Tuesday mark the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, or "catastrophe," in which 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. The anniverary comes a day after the United States transferred its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in a move that has been denounced by Palestinians and much of the international community. The move fulfilled a pledge by US President Donald Trump, who in December formally recognised the holy city as the Israeli capital. Israel considers the entire city its capital, while the Palestinians see East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. For decades, international consensus has been that the city's status must be negotiated between the two sides.
