JERUSALEM: Nearly 580 Palestinians in need of medical care have been stranded for up to two weeks inside a terminal on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip, the Red Cross said on Monday. Because of a border dispute between Israel and the Palestinians, the Red Cross has proposed escorting them into Gaza by boat from El-Arish along the Egyptian coast, a Red Cross spokeswoman in Cairo said. But it has yet to receive a response from either side. Israel, which launched a major military offensive in Gaza on June 28 after a soldier was abducted by militants, said it has offered to let the Palestinians pass through the nearby Kerem Shalom border crossing into Gaza. But Palestinian officials rejected the Israeli proposal, insisting that Rafah be reopened. At least two stranded Palestinians have died so far, including a 15-year-old boy who was waiting to cross into Gaza after undergoing heart surgery in Cairo, an Egyptian official at the border said. The Rafah border crossing has been closed since Palestinian militants abducted Corporal Gilad Shalit in a cross-border raid on June 25. Bana Sayeh, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross in Jerusalem, said a total of 578 people were now stranded inside the terminal on the Egyptian side of the crossing. They can t cross into Gaza or back into Egypt, Sayeh said. The Red Cross spokeswoman in Cairo estimated that somewhere between 3,000 and 7,000 Palestinians were waiting to cross into Gaza, 578 of which were deemed urgent humanitarian cases. In addition to the 15-year-old, a 68-year-old man died over the weekend after suffering a heart attack on the Egyptian side of the crossing. He had been stranded for nine days waiting to return to Gaza after receiving medical treatment in Egypt. Palestinians technically control the Rafah crossing but its operations are overseen by European monitors and can be blocked by the Israelis. The others are controlled by Israel. Why now move things to Kerem Shalom? If we move it to Kerem Shalom, we re worried they will close Rafah for good, said Saeb Erekat, a top aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Israel s Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Israel has offered to let Palestinians in need of medical care to use of both Kerem Shalom and the Erez crossing. As far as Israel is concerned, the Israeli-controlled crossings remain open for humanitarian cases, Regev said. Sayeh said the European Union and the Palestinian Authority had asked the Red Cross to escort the people through Rafah. The two parties, the Israelis and the Palestinians, did not have an agreement. So we could not conduct such an activity, Sayeh said. She said the Red Cross has provided funds to the Egyptian Red Crescent, which is taking the lead in providing humanitarian supplies to those stranded at the terminal. Reuters
