Only five medical evacuees were allowed to leave Gaza, and just 12 Palestinians were allowed to return to the war-torn territory due to delays imposed by Israeli authorities as the Rafah border crossing with Egypt finally reopened.The long-awaited reopening of the territory’s southern border crossing with Egypt on Monday was supposed to alleviate more than 18 months of a punishing military siege on Gaza.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listInstead, Israeli authorities continued with tight security restrictions and a complex bureaucratic process that allowed only a small number of people to travel in either direction – leaving or entering Gaza – and also blocked goods from passing freely through the border gate.The number of people allowed to pass through the Rafah crossing – five sick patients leaving Gaza for treatment abroad and 12 people returning home on Monday – fell far short of the 50 people Israeli officials had promised would be permitted to move in each direction.Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City early on Tuesday, said the reopening of the crossing was a long time coming, and the result was far less than promised.“This is coming after a long time of waiting,” Mahmoud said.“They were expected to be entering the Gaza Strip throughout the past hours, but they were held for long hours, and this is in part due to the long process of security clearance set by the Israeli military on the Rafah crossing,” he said.“We expected to see 50 Palestinians returning from Egypt into the Gaza Strip throughout the day, and that was the …
