Palestinians wait at border between Gaza and Egypt as uncertainty clouds reopening of Rafah crossing

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinians gathered on both sides of Gaza’s border with Egypt on Tuesday hoping to pass through the Rafah crossing after its reopening the previous day was marred by delays, interrogations and uncertainty over who would be allowed to cross.

On the Egyptian side were Palestinians who fled Gaza earlier in the Israel-Hamas war to seek medical treatment, according to Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera News television. On the Gaza side, Palestinians in need of medical care that is unavailable in Gaza gathered at a hospital before ambulances moved toward Rafah, hoping for word that they would be allowed to cross the other way.

The office of the North Sinai governor confirmed Tuesday that an unknown number of patients and their companions had crossed from Gaza into Egypt.

Though hailed as a step forward for the fragile ceasefire struck in October, it took more than 10 hours for only about a dozen returnees and a small group of medical evacuees to cross in each direction on the first day Rafah reopened.

Three women who crossed into Gaza on Monday told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Israeli troops blindfolded and handcuffed them, then interrogated and threatened them, holding them for several hours until they were released.

The numbers permitted to cross on Monday fell well short of the 50 people that officials had said would be allowed each way and barely began to address the needs of tens of thousands of Palestinians who are hoping to be evacuated for treatment or to return home.

The import of humanitarian aid or goods through Rafah remains prohibited.

Evacuation efforts on Tuesday morning converged around a Red Crescent hospital in Khan Younis, where a World Health Organization team arrived and a vehicle carrying patients and their relatives rolled in from another hospital. Then the group of WHO vehicles and Palestinian ambulances headed toward Rafah to await crossing.

As the sick, wounded and displaced waited to cross in both directions, health officials said the small number allowed to exit so far paled beside Gaza's tremendous needs. Two years of fighting destroyed much of its medical infrastructure and left hospitals struggling to treat trauma injuries, amputations and chronic conditions like cancer.

In Gaza City, Shifa Hospital director Mohamed Abu Selmiya called the pace “crisis management, not a solution to the crisis,” imploring Israel to permit the importing of medical supplies and equipment. He wrote on Facebook: “Denying the evacuation of patients and preventing the entry of medicines is a death sentence for them.”

Palestinian Red Crescent spokesperson Raed al-Nims told the AP that only 16 patients with chronic conditions or war wounds, accompanied by 40 relatives, were brought from Khan Younis to the Gaza side of Rafah on Tuesday — less than the 45 patients and wounded the Red Crescent was told would be allowed.

After days of anticipation over the reopening, hope lingered that it might mark a meaningful first step. In Khan Younis, Iman Rashwan waited for hours until her mother and sister returned from Egypt, hoping others would soon see their loved ones again.

“God willing, the crossing will open for everyone, for all the sick and for all the wounded,” she said.

Officials say the number of crossings could gradually increase if the system works, with Israel and Egypt vetting those allowed in and out. But security concerns and bureaucratic snags quickly tempered expectations raised by officials who for weeks had cast reopening as a major step in the ceasefire deal.

There were delays on Monday over disagreements about luggage allowances. Returnees were carrying more than anticipated with them, requiring additional negotiations, a person familiar with the situation told the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the diplomatic matter.

“They didn’t let us cross with anything,” Rotana Al-Regeb said as she returned around midnight Monday to Khan Younis. “They emptied everything before letting us through. We were only allowed to take the clothes on our backs and one bag per person.”

The initial number of Palestinians allowed to cross is mostly symbolic. Israeli and Egyptian officials have said that 50 medical evacuees would depart — along with two caregiver escorts — and 50 Palestinians who left during the war would return.

At that pace, long waits are facing most of the roughly 20,000 sick and wounded people who Gaza’s Health Ministry has said need treatment abroad. About 150 hospitals across Egypt are ready to receive patients, authorities said.

Who and what would be allowed through Rafah was a central concern for both Israel and Egypt.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that anyone who wants to leave will eventually be permitted to do so, but Egypt has repeatedly said the Rafah crossing must open in both directions, fearing Israel could use it to push Palestinians out of Gaza.

Reopening the crossing is considered key as the ceasefire agreement moves into a complicated second phase. That calls for installing a new Palestinian committee to govern Gaza, deploying an international security force, disarming Hamas and taking steps to begin rebuilding.

In a meeting Tuesday with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff in Jerusalem, Netayanhu repeated Israel’s “uncompromising demand” that Hamas be disarmed before any reconstruction begins, the prime minister’s office said.

Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said Ahmed Abdel-Al, 19, was shot and killed by Israeli troops on Tuesday morning in a part of the southern Gaza city, some distance away from the area under the Israeli military's control.

Israel's military said it was not immediately aware of any shootings in the area.

Abdel-Al was the latest of the 529 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since the Oct. 10 start of the ceasefire, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. They are among more than 71,800 Palestinians killed since the start of the war, according to the ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians.

The ministry, part of Gaza’s Hamas-led government, keeps detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Josef Federman and Sam Metz in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Returnees arrive in a bus at Nasser Hospital after a group of 12 Palestinians was allowed into Gaza from Egypt following the long-awaited reopening of the Rafah border crossing, which was marred by delays, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, early Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Najat Rubaie, center right, embraces one of her grandsons after they arrive with their mother as part of a group of about a dozen Palestinian returnees allowed into Gaza following the long-awaited reopening of the Rafah border crossing, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, early Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

The family of Huda Abu Abed, a 60-year-old heart patient, carries her belongings after she and 11 other returnees were allowed into Gaza from Egypt following the long-awaited reopening of the Rafah border crossing, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, early Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A U.N. vehicle escorts ambulances and a bus carrying Palestinian patients in Khan Younis as they travel to the Rafah crossing to leave the Gaza Strip for medical treatment abroad, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinian patients ride a bus in Khan Younis as they travel to the Rafah crossing to leave the Gaza Strip for medical treatment abroad, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

For more than a decade, loyal viewers of NBC’s “Today” show have come to know Nancy Guthrie, the beloved mother of longtime host Savannah Guthrie.

“She’s lived a life of integrity and loyalty,” Savannah Guthrie said four years ago, beaming as she paid tribute to her mom on her 80th birthday.

“She’s a truth teller, whether you really want to hear the truth or not,” Guthrie said, calling her mom an inspiration and a woman of great of faith.

On Tuesday, Savannah Guthrie asked for prayers to help find her 84-year-old mother after authorities said they believe she was taken against her will over the weekend from the Tucson, Arizona, home where she lives alone.

Authorities don’t believe the abduction was part of a robbery or kidnapping-for-ransom plot, according to a person familiar with the investigation, who was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the case and spoke to the AP on condition of an anonymity.

Her disappearance has shaken NBC’s flagship morning show, where Nancy Guthrie made occasional appearances. She once took part in a cooking demonstration and has shown up on the set to surprise her daughter.

“For all of us who’ve gotten to know her and love her, it is personal,” an emotional Jenna Bush Hager, one of the show’s hosts said during Tuesday’s broadcast.

Savannah Guthrie, who was not at the anchor’s desk Tuesday, has described her mom over the years as adventurous, curious and selfless.

“She has met unthinkable challenges in her life with grit, without self-pity, with determination and always, always with unshakeable faith,” Savannah Guthrie said in 2022.

She credited her mom with holding their family together after her father died of a heart attack at age 49, when Savannah Guthrie — the youngest of three siblings — was just 16.

“When my dad died, our family just hung onto each other for dear life because it was such a shock. We were just trying to figure out how to become a family of four when we’d always been a family of five,” she said on “Today” in 2017.

The loss of her father, a man Savannah Guthrie described as having a big personality and unshakeable integrity, brought the family closer.

Both daughters decided to live at home during college and made sure that their mother wasn't alone on weekends, Savannah Guthrie said.

“My mom did such a unique and amazing job to create this foundation for us,” Savannah's older sister Annie said during an appearance on ”Today" nearly a decade ago.

Associated Press reporter Mike Balsamo reported from Washington.

This image provided by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, on Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, shows a missing person alert for Nancy Guthrie. (Pima County Sheriff’s Department via AP)

/// Neighbors of Nancy Guthrie, the daughter of "Today" host Savannah Guthrie, show support for the family in metro Tucson, Ariz., on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, as the search continues to find Nancy who was reported missing. (AP Photo/Sejal Govindarao)