CAIRO: For the second day running Egypt has kept the Rafah border crossing open to allow wounded Palestinians from Gaza to receive treatment in Egyptian hospitals on Monday. As Gaza continues to be on the receiving end of Israeli air strikes, Palestinian ambulances transport the wounded to the border town of Rafah where they are transferred to Egyptian ambulances and driven through the Salahuddin gate, North Sinai Tagammu party member Hussein El Qayem told Daily News Egypt. There have been some 20 ambulances transporting the wounded from Gaza to various hospitals in the area. According to El Qayem, the more severe cases were taken to Al-Arish hospital as it is the best equipped, but less serious cases were treated at the Sheikh Zowayed hospital. A statement released by the Foreign Ministry explained the reason for allowing the wounded from across the border, claiming that the decision "comes within the framework of Egypt shouldering its humanitarian responsibility regarding the crises faced by the Palestinians. "Egypt will always offer assistance to the Palestinian brothers, particularly the injured ones, who have been falling for days as a result of the brutal Israeli military operations, the statement continued. Therefore, "Egypt will continue its humanitarian role towards the Palestinian people in parallel with its important political role, which aims at calming [the] situation and completely halting military confrontation, it read. Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman has delayed a trip to Israel because of the onslaught on Gaza, state media reported Monday. Al-Ahram newspaper reported that the trip was delayed in protest against "the Israeli escalation on the Gaza strip. 116 Palestinians - many of them civilians including children - have been killed in five days of Israeli strikes on the territory which is home to 1.5 million Palestinians. A statement by the Israeli foreign ministry said that the "continued escalation of Hamas terrorism emanating from Gaza, purposely targeting Israeli civilians, is liable to leave Israel with no choice. Yet the Egyptian foreign ministry was scathing about the Israeli actions in the strip, with a statement that "condemned the continuation of the Israeli military operations in Gaza which have resulted in claiming the lives of tens of innocent civilians including a large number of children. The statement released by the ministry spokesman added that "those unacceptable operations lead to intensifying the tensions which lead to more confrontations and more victims.
