IDF has said that there are six remaining battalions of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, including four in Rafah.

There are many innocent Palestinians who have fled to Rafah seeking safety. For the sake of Humanity, I think Egypt should allow at least women and children out of Gaza to seek safety in the Sinai Peninsula. Once the ground operation in Rafah is finished, these women and children should be allowed to return to Gaza if they wish to do so.

“There are few other areas of healthcare where professionals are so afraid to openly discuss their views, where people are vilified on social media, and where name-calling echoes the worst bullying behaviour. This must stop.”

I don't know why Egypt didn't open the border crossing at Rafah months ago, but it's good to see that Egypt is at least allowing some people to flee the war zone in Gaza.

Egypt really want to make sure that Palestinians remain trapped in Gaza and unable to escape from the war zone.

Genital gender affirming surgery were identified in California from 2012-2018 from the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development datasets using appropriate ICD-9/10 codes. All emergency room and inpatient psychiatric encounters were identified (noting those involving suicide attempts). Rates of these encounters were calculated before and after gender affirming surgery (using date of first operation if staged). On average, patients had a balanced two years of observation before and after their surgery.

Overall, 869 and 357 patients were identified undergoing vaginoplasty and phalloplasty. The overall rates of suicide attempts doubled (3.3 vs 1.5%, p=0.017) after vaginoplasty (effect not observed after phalloplasty).

Source

It appears as though Egypt is finally making preparations to receive refugees from Gaza.

Egypt steps up security on border as Israeli offensive in Gaza nears

CAIRO, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Egypt has sent about 40 tanks and armoured personnel carriers to northeastern Sinai within the past two weeks as part of a series of measures to bolster security on its border with Gaza, two Egyptian security sources said. The deployment took place ahead of the expansion of Israeli military operations around Gaza's southern city of Rafah, where much of its population has sought safety, sharpening Egyptian fears that Palestinians could be forced en masse out of the enclave.

This is akin to firefighters preventing people from getting out of a burning building, how can Egypt be so heartless? Egypt is forcing innocent Palestinian women and children to remain trapped in a war zone rather than helping them escape to the safety of the Sinai Peninsula.

Some say that if Palestinians leave Gaza, they will never be allowed to return. Would you say the same to a family being forced to remain in the path of a hurricane? How about allowing the people who are in immediate danger to make that decision? Or would you rather see more innocent Palestinian women and children die in order to make some kind of point?

Egypt is still refusing to let Palestinians out of Gaza. Palestinian women and children are being forced to remain in the middle of the war zone between Hamas and Israel.

Have you ever wondered why there are no refugees from the war in Gaza? It's because Egypt controls the border crossing at Rafah between Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula. Rather than helping Palestinian women and children who are trying to escape the war zone, Egypt has reinforced the gate to make sure Palestinians remain trapped in Gaza.

The hardships at the crossing also brought with them a viral online campaign under the hashtag “Open the Rafah Crossing” in Arabic is currently underway.  This campaign apparently gained track when Osama Gaweesh, a UK-based journalist originally from Egypt and a hardline critic of the Al-Sisi regime, simply tweeted the hashtag earlier this month, later adding in another tweet: “as an Egyptian citizen, I apologize to all our people in Gaza. Shortly after that, in mid-January, a rather spontaneous rally convened at the Egyptian Journalists’ Syndicate headquarters in Cairo, where protesters chanted “there’s a crossing between us and our families, the Zionist is controlling us”, “as long as Arab blood is cheap – let any president fall!” and “we want the crossing open!” The campaign then spread virally with thousands of appearances over the past few weeks and a potential reach of millions of users across the Arab speaking sphere. A recent participant who joined this already trending campaign, and who may be deemed surprising, is no less than the BDS movement, more specifically their Arabic speaking outlets. While usually directed at Israel, the past days have seen an uptick in the movement’s attempts to apply pressure on the Egyptian government as well.

Why doesn't Egypt allow innocent Palestinians, especially women and children, out of the war zone in Gaza? Palestinians should be able to decide for themselves whether to remain in Gaza or to leave while the war between Hamas and Israel is going on.

Surely the oil-rich Arab nations will lend as much economic humanitarian support to Gaza as it needs, won’t they?