Rink issues resolved, NHL stars chase Olympic gold at Milan

France is expected to adopt its 2026 budget on Monday after months of fraught negotiations if Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu survives the latest in a string of no-confidence motions.

The premier on Friday forced his budget through parliament without a vote for the third and final time, triggering another wave of motions from the hard left and far-right parties.

If Lecornu survives the challenges -- which are expected to be rejected on Monday evening -- the budget will move forward for final approval.

The motions follow four months of political deadlock over the budget that last month forced Lecornu into an about-face on his pledge not to force the budget through parliament without a vote, a decision he called a "partial failure".

But the 39-year-old premier is expected to survive the latest challenges after making concessions to gain the backing of the Socialists -- a key swing group in parliament.

- Deficit-cutting effort -

The bill aims to cut France's deficit to five percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2026 from 5.4 percent in 2025, after the government eased back from an earlier target of 4.7 percent.

The budget also includes higher taxes on some businesses, expected to bring in about 7.3 billion euros ($8.6 billion) in 2026, though the Socialists failed to secure backing for a proposed wealth tax on the super-rich.

The Socialists did, however, win several sought-after measures, including a one-euro meal for students and an increase in a top-up payment for low-income workers.

The plan also boosts military spending by 6.5 billion euros, a move the premier last week described as the "heart" of the budget.

- State spending row -

In December, lawmakers narrowly adopted the social security budget, part of the broader spending plan, postponing an unpopular pensions reform until January 2028, after President Emmanuel Macron's term ends.

But they failed to reach a compromise on state expenses, complicated by a tug-of-war between a right-leaning Senate pushing for savings and a hung lower house where the left has demanded more tax income.

France is under pressure from the EU to rein in its debt-to-GDP ratio -- the bloc's third-highest after Greece and Italy -- which is close to twice the EU's 60-percent ceiling.

The country has been bogged down in political crises since Macron called a snap poll in 2024, in which he lost his parliamentary majority.

Lecornu was named premier in September -- then renamed the following month having stepped down -- after his two predecessors were both toppled by parliament over cost-cutting measures.

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Britain's former prince Andrew, his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson and a career Labour politician were on Monday thrust back into the eye of the Jeffrey Epstein storm, as shocking, often intimate emails with the late sex offender rocked political and royal circles.

The cache of documents included multiple emails between notable UK figures and Epstein, often revealing warm relations, illicit financial dealings and private photos.

The fallout continued on Monday, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer's spokesperson saying Peter Mandelson, the UK's former ambassador to the United States, should be stripped of his membership of the House of Lords, Britain's upper chamber of parliament.

Starmer has also ordered an inquiry into Mandelson's contacts with Epstein, after allegations that he passed a confidential government memo to the disgraced financier.

Mandelson, 72, who was sacked as ambassador to the US last year over his ties to Epstein, also allegedly received several payments from Epstein in the early 2000s, according to documents.

One exchange appears to show Mandelson sending a sensitive economic briefing meant for then-prime minister Gordon Brown to Epstein in 2009, when he was Brown's business secretary.

Mandelson also appears in newly released, undated photographs, wearing a T‑shirt and underwear beside a woman whose face has been redacted by US authorities.

The politician gave up his decades-long membership of the Labour Party on Sunday, while maintaining that the allegations were "false".

Meanwhile, calls grew for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor -- who was stripped of his royal titles last October -- to testify in front of the US Congress about Epstein's crimes, as another woman alleged she was trafficked to Britain for a sexual encounter with the then-prince.

- 'Just marry me' -

The second sexual claim was allegedly made over a decade after Virginia Giuffre said she was trafficked by Epstein and sexually assaulted three times by Andrew, including when she was 17.

After Giuffre launched a lawsuit against Andrew, who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing linked to Epstein, the brother of King Charles III paid her a multi-million-pound settlement in 2022 without making any admission of guilt.

British head of state Charles has already moved to strip Andrew of all his titles and ordered that he quit Royal Lodge, his home of two decades on the Windsor estate west of London.

While the former Duke of York and Epstein's friendship has been in the spotlight for years, the latest emails also appeared to shine a new light on the extent of the ties between Andrew's ex-wife Sarah Ferguson and Epstein.

"Thank you Jeffrey for being the brother I have always wished for," Ferguson, nicknamed "Fergie", wrote in an email dated August 2009 -- a year after Epstein was convicted for procuring a minor for prostitution.

"You are a legend," read a June 2010 email from "Sarah", although the email address is redacted as in the other exchanges.

"I really don't have the words to describe, my love, gratitude for your generosity and kindness. Xx I am at your service. Just marry me."

Multiple exchanges appear to involve invitations to parties and plans to meet, as well as discussions of Ferguson's business ventures and money problems following her 1996 divorce from Andrew.

In one exchange about a possible meeting, Ferguson tells Epstein she was waiting for her younger daughter, Eugenie, to return from "a shagging weekend".

However, the relationship soured after "Fergie" apologised for her friendship and financial dealings with Epstein in a 2011 interview, saying she "abhorred paedophilia" and was cutting ties with him. 

She also called a £15,000 ($20,000) loan that she took from him to help pay off her debts a "gigantic error of judgement".

- Uni drops US envoy's name -

A top university in Northern Ireland on Monday said it was also dropping the former US senator George Mitchell's name from one of its institutes because of his links with Epstein.

"Queen's University Belfast has taken the decision to remove the name of its former Chancellor, Senator George J. Mitchell, from the Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice," said a statement sent to AFP.

Mitchell brokered the negotiations which led to the 1998 peace agreement that ended three decades of conflict over British rule in Northern Ireland, and was chancellor of the prestigious university from 1999-2009.

The latest tranche of documents includes 339 references to Mitchell, including several get-togethers, appointments and lunches.

Mitchell has previously said he regrets having met and known Epstein and said he had no knowledge of any of his illegal actions.

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Chile has officially backed the candidacy of its former president Michelle Bachelet to become the UN's first female secretary-general, with backing from Mexico and Brazil.

Outgoing President Gabriel Boric made the announcement Monday following concerns that Bachelet's bid could be blocked by right-winger Jose Antonio Kast, due to take over the Chilean presidency next month.

Bachelet, 74, has been a trailblazer for Latin America: the first woman to serve as defense minister and the first female elected as the Chilean president, serving two terms from 2006 to 2010 and 2014-18.

She has also served as the UN high commissioner for Human Rights and the first head of the then-newly created UN Women agency. 

Last year, she was nominated for the UN's top job by Boric, and later met Kast to seek his backing.

After that meeting, in December, Bachelet told AFP "the world is ready" for a woman to take over and make "a different contribution through a different kind of leadership."

The UN, which turns 81 years old this year, has never had a woman at the helm and only one Latin American -- Peruvian diplomat Javier Perez de Cuellar who served as secretary-general from 1982 to 1991.

The post traditionally rotates between world regions, with Latin America next in line as Portuguese Antonio Guterres's term comes to an end. 

"President Bachelet's candidacy, which has already been registered with the United Nations, will be presented jointly with our sister countries Brazil and Mexico," Boric told reporters on Monday.  

Three other women from Latin America and the Caribbean are in the running for the UN top job: Costa Rican Rebeca Grynspan, secretary-general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development; Mexican Environment Minister Alicia Barcena; and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley.

The other candidate is International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi from Argentina.

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Two infant formula manufacturers withdrew batches from the market on Monday after France imposed stricter limits on acceptable levels of a toxin that can cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.

French maker Popote said it was recalling two lots, while Vitagermine removed three different batches of Babybio formula from the shelves in the latest such recalls to rock the infant formula industry in recent weeks.

Several manufacturers, including European giants like Nestle, Danone, and Lactalis, have issued recalls of infant formula that could be contaminated with cereulide in more than 60 countries since December.

French authorities are investigating the deaths in December and January of two babies who were thought to have drunk possibly contaminated powdered milk. No link has been established so far between the formula and their symptoms.

The agriculture ministry on Friday set the new threshold at 0.014 micrograms of cereulide per kilogram of body weight, instead of 0.03 micrograms.

Vitagermine said its milk had complied with French rules until they changed last week, and it was removing the three batches on Monday to "better ensure the safety of infants".

Popote said it was removing two batches of first-stage infant formula "without waiting for the new European framework".

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on Monday said its scientists had also suggested a maximum level for cereulide of 0.014 micrograms per kilogram of body weight.

This translated to 0.054 micrograms of cereulide per litre in infant formula, the Italy-based agency said.

"This advice is intended to help EU risk managers determine when products should be withdrawn from the market as a precautionary public health measure," it added.

- Cereulide health risk -

But European consumer association Foodwatch accused multinationals of focusing on thresholds as a "diversionary tactic".

"Cereulide should not be there at all in the first place," it said.

"It is illegal to market products that expose babies to health risks," it added, comparing cereulide to mouse droppings.

"There is no European standard on the presence of mouse droppings in infant formula. Nevertheless, it is prohibited," Foodwatch said.

The recall of potentially contaminated infant formula has heaped scrutiny on Chinese firm Cabio Biotech, the supplier of an ingredient used in infant formula which is suspected of being tainted.

Headquartered in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, Cabio Biotech is one of the world's largest producers of ARA, a fatty acid used primarily in baby formula and food products.

French company Nutribio told AFP it recalled some of its milk following an "alert" from Cabio Biotech.

French advocacy group Children's Health also named the company in a court filing, asking the government to order companies to pull all formula with ARA oil produced by Cabio Biotech.

Cabio Biotech has yet to publicly address allegations its ARA oil was contaminated, and has not responded to multiple requests for comment.

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(The Center Square) – The electric grid powering much of the U.S. through a harsh stretch of winter has largely held up, but there is an increasing risk of supply shortfalls, an industry watchdog said on Thursday. 

The risk has grown in recent years as demand increases from data centers trying to keep up with the artificial intelligence boom and the digital economy. At the same time, generation plants that burn coal, oil and other fuels are being replaced by solar and batteries and natural gas-fired plants.

The North American Electric Reliability Council said uncertainty and slow development of new sources of power generation are driving “heightened concerns” that the nation’s electricity providers will not be able to keep up with the demand over the next 10 years.

The warning came as most of the eastern half of the U.S. entered the 9th consecutive day of colder-than-normal temperatures and prepared for more frigid weather. So far, the nation’s electric grid has held up without widespread outages, although tens of thousands of residents across Tennessee, Louisiana and Mississippi remained without power on Sunday, a week after Winter Storm Fern blew through the region.  

The Council forecasts that over the next decade, the demand for electricity will grow by 246 gigawatts during the winter but by only about 224 gigawatts in the summer, reflecting changing patterns of electricity usage. Planners, market operators and regulators should expedite new power resources to meet growing demand, and deactivations of existing electric plants should be carefully managed, the Council said.

“This assessment is not a prediction of failure but an early warning on the trajectory of risk,” said John Moura, the organization’s director of reliability assessment and performance analysis. “The path forward is still manageable but only if planned resources come online and on time."

Prior to the winter storm, the U.S. Department of Energy directed electricity generators in almost 16 states and the District of Columbia to deploy backup power resources at data centers and major industrial facilities in order to lessen pressure on the grid and reduce the likelihood of blackouts.

Grid operators, including ERCOT in Texas, reported that regional transmission networks remained stable through the storm, which dumped snow and ice from north Texas to the East Coast. 

PJM, the nation’s largest grid operator, said in its latest seven-day forecast on Friday that it expected demand to peak that day at approximately 141.9 gigawatts, near the all-time winter record high of 143.7 gigawatts set one year ago. Temperatures were expected to remain below freezing for several more days in the 13 Midwest and ‌Mid-Atlantic states and Washington, D.C., served by PJM. 

On Friday, generation outages in PJM’s service area were expected to be about 15 gigawatts, or ​about 11% of total capacity.

In Texas, where rolling blackouts occurred during a period of prolonged cold in February 2021, power generation in the state’s massive wind power industry was unimpeded by the cold during the recent arctic blast, helping to stabilize the grid, said Ed Hirs, an energy economist at the University of Houston.

“The weatherization requirements seem to have helped,” said Hirs, referring to a program adopted by Texas officials following the 2021 storm that require power generators, natural gas producers and pipeline operators to take steps to mitigate the effects of frigid temperatures on electricity generation. Temperatures were not as cold in the 2026 storm as in 2021, Hirs added.

In Texas, wind energy accounts for 25% to 29% of the state's total annual electricity generation, behind natural gas at 40% to 50%, according to data provided by ERCOT.

Hirs said there were no problems with distribution of natural gas inside Texas in the storm, unlike in 2021, and battery power added incremental electricity to the grid at peak usage times early in the morning. Equipment that helps prevent turbines from the icing that occurred in 2021 allowed wind power to continue functioning during the storm, he said.

Hirs said wholesale electricity prices in Texas reached over a $1 a kilowatt hour at one time in the cold blast, indicating that problems remain. “The average price of electricity Texas was well over a dollar a kilowatt hour in the wholesale market at one point, and we know it doesn't cost them anything like that much to bring power on the grid – this was just price gouging – and consumers will pay for it later,” said Hirs.

The grid in the Northeast has seen disruptions in recent days, but not widespread outages, said Will Rampe, an energy policy analyst at the Institute for Energy Research.

Rampe noted that electricity supplies from New England Clean Energy Connect, a new 1-gigawatt transmission line that started running in mid-January, were not able to supply power to Massachusetts from Hydro-Quebec during Winter Storm Fern because Quebec needed the energy for its own use.

To fill the gap, Rampe said, New England had to fire up old oil turbines, which produced almost 40% of the region’s power on Sunday during the height of the storm. Hydro-Quebec will have to compensate the New England utilities for not meeting its commitment, although the penalty is unknown, Rampe said.

As the frigid temperatures moved into the region, Maine and New England’s wind generation resources performed well, providing more than 1.5 gigawatts, or roughly 10%, of the total load for the regional grid. But as temperatures plummeted to historic lows on Jan. 27 and the wind slowed, these plants contributed only 754 megawatts, or about 4%, of the New England’s power.

 “Policymakers in state capitols in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic have pushed for more wind and solar versus what actually served the grid during the times of the greatest emergency,” Rampe said. “New England relied on oil to produce 40% of its electricity at peak demand during the storm last weekend. This shows the importance of reliable sources of electricity and that efforts to restrict natural gas and coal from the energy mix do not serve consumers’ interests."

Subway trains, buses and trams across Germany ground to a halt Monday in a public transport strike called by one of the country's biggest unions in a dispute over pay and conditions.

Bitter winter weather and icy pavements in large parts of the country meant that alternatives such as walking or cycling were more hazardous than usual for commuters.

The Verdi services sector union is pushing for shorter shifts for public transport workers and bigger bonuses for evening and weekend shifts.

It has called on almost 100,000 staff in 150 transport companies to take part in the stoppage.

In some states, the union is also pushing for pay increases of around 10 percent.

"If we don't go on strike for better conditions, the jobs will remain unattractive, as we have seen in the past few years," Verdi spokesman Andreas Schackert told public broadcaster ZDF.

The strike affects services in all states except Lower Saxony.

Mainline and regional trains are still running, but are not always the most reliable alternative.

Luis Hermann, a 23-year-old student in Berlin, said the regional S-Bahn in his part of the city, officially exempted from the strike, was also not running.

"There were works on the line and then the strike as well -- it's a bit annoying," Hermann told AFP, adding that his journey to the library had taken an hour instead of the usual 30 minutes.

Monday's strike follows warning strikes last month in several parts of the public sector, as unions sound the alarm over staff shortages and loss of purchasing power for workers.

The Berlin public transport operator BVG called the strike "disproportionate" and appealed to Verdi to return to negotiations.

"I can certainly understand that people are trying to strengthen their position and get money from their employer," said another commuter, 52-year-old consultant Frank Ewert.

"It's not great that we, as users of the BVG, are the ones who suffer as a result."

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The head of the World Health Organization said Monday that the dramatic cuts of 2025 as the United States headed for the exit created the chance to build a leaner, re-focused WHO.

Washington, traditionally the UN health agency's biggest donor, has slashed foreign aid spending under President Donald Trump, who on his first day back in office in January 2025 handed the WHO his country's one-year notice of withdrawal.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the agency's annual executive board meeting that 2025 was "undeniably one of the most difficult years in our organisation's history", with many donors tightening their belts.

"Significant cuts to our funding left us with no choice but to reduce the size of our workforce," he said. 

More than a thousand staff have departed but Tedros said such a shock was something the WHO had seen coming, having tried to pivot away from over-reliance on major donors.

And its reorientation was all but finalised, he said.

"We have now largely completed the prioritisation and realignment. We have reached a position of stability and we are moving forward," Tedros insisted.

"Although we have faced a significant crisis in the past year, we have also viewed it as an opportunity. It's an opportunity for a leaner WHO to become more focused on its core mission."

He urged member states to keep gradually increasing their membership fees, to reduce the WHO's reliance on voluntary contributions.

The aim is for membership fees to eventually cover 50 percent of the agency's budget, to secure its "long-term stability, sustainability and independence".

"I don't mean independence from member states. Of course, WHO belongs to you and always will," he stressed.

"I mean non-dependence on a handful of donors; I mean non-dependence on inflexible, unpredictable funding; I mean a WHO that's no longer a contractor to the biggest donors.

"I mean an impartial, science-based organisation that's free to say what the evidence says, without fear or favour."

The executive board meeting, which opened Monday and runs until Saturday, will discuss the withdrawal notifications of the United States and Argentina.

Unlike any other member state, the United States reserved the right to withdraw when it joined the organisation in 1948 -- on condition of one year's notice, and meeting its financial obligations in full for that fiscal year.

While the notice is now up, Washington has not paid its 2024 or 2025 dues, owing around $260 million.

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With ice rink concerns solved just weeks before the opening faceoff, National Hockey League stars return to the Winter Olympics at Milan-Cortina for the first time since 2014.

The world's top players will compete in Italy after the elite North American league agreed to a mid-season shutdown and issues of ice quality and rink size were sorted in January.

"I am 100% confident in the field of play," Winter Olympics Ice Master Don Moffatt told KOAA television in Colordo Springs, Colorado.

The Canadian who serves as chief ice maker in Milan said his fifth Olympic assignment "has been by far my hardest," calling it a "huge challenge" to work around construction crews but saying he was "happy and satisfied" with the ice at Santagiulia Arena.

Concerns about the rink being three feet shorter than the typical NHL playing surfaces have also been allayed, the NHL Players Association (NHLPA) saying it would not greatly impact play and noting it was the same size as the 2022 Beijing Olympics rink and one used in Sweden for NHL games earlier this season.

A small hole in the ice developed during a January tuneup match, but it was termed a minor detail in line with past ice making and testing and solved by a watering can.

The NHL and NHLPA approved players to compete in Italy, saying they expect organizers, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Ice Hockey Federation to "deliver a tournament and playing conditions befitting the world's best players."

"We expect everything that needs to be done on a timely basis will get done," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said.

IOC official Christophe Dubi said on Sunday all of the scheduled games at the arena would "absolutely" go ahead, although he admitted some areas were unfinished but insisted it would not impact players, fans or the media.

As Canadian forward Brad Marchant of the reigning NHL champion Florida Panthers said, "Guys don't care. No one has talked about it. No one is worried about it."

- USA, Canada fancied -

Canada earned the role of Olympic favorite by winning last year's NHL Four Nations Faceoff, beating the United States in an emotional final after Sweden and Finland lost in the semi-finals.

The Americans, however, hope to capture their first Olympic men's gold since the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" in Lake Placid.

Most of the US and Canadian rosters include players from the Four Nations event, which was highlighted by a tension-packed round-robin US-Canada showdown in Montreal featuring three fights in the first nine seconds.

"I think it's going to be even more intense (at the Olympics)," Florida forward Matthew Tkachuk of the United States said.

Politics spiced the melee with Canadian fans booing the US anthem after US President Donald Trump said he wanted Canada as a 51st state and imposed tariffs on the USA's northern neighbors.

Group A features Canada, France, Switzerland and Czech Republic while Group B includes Sweden, defending champion Finland, Italy and Slovakia and Group C has the United States, Germany, Denmark and Latvia.

Three group winners and the best runner-up team advance to the quarter-finals while the other eight clubs play in the opening round of the knockout stage.

The Canadians feature Colorado forward Nathan MacKinnon, the 2024 NHL Most Valuable Player and this season's goals leader, and Edmonton's Connor McDavid, a three-time NHL MVP who ranks second in goals and first in assists just ahead of MacKinnon.

A mix of youth and experience features 19-year-old forward Macklin Celebrini of San Jose and 38-year-old Pittsburgh star Sidney Crosby, a two-time NHL MVP who scored the golden goal for Canada in the 2010 Vancouver final.

The American roster includes Toronto star Auston Matthews, Vegas' Jack Eichel, New Jersey's Jack Hughes, Buffalo's Tage Thompson and brothers Matthew and Brady Tkachuk, whose father Keith was on the 2002 USA silver-medal squad.

"I never really expected it to be a dream come true," Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk said of reaching his Olympic dream alongside his sibling. 

"The fact we're going to be able to do it on the top level, both being Olympians, it's more than a dream."

NHL talent is featured on almost every Olympic roster, the Czechs including Boston's David Pastrnak, the NHL 2020 goal scoring leader, and Germany boasting Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl, the 2020 NHL MVP and last season's top goal scorer.

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Critics and fans welcomed South Korea's first major Grammy win for the song "Golden", from the hit animated film "KPop Demon Hunters", describing it on Monday as a breakthrough for the genre.

The track, performed by Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami as the fictional girl group Huntrix in the film, won Best Song Written for Visual Media to claim an accolade that had long eluded the industry despite its global popularity.

K-pop megagroups BTS, for example, has been nominated multiple times in different categories since 2021 but has yet to be recognised at the music industry's biggest night.

One YouTube commentator, who uses the handle striderz1971, noted that neither BTS nor Blackpink had been able to score a Grammy and said that "a path had now been forced open".  

"With that barrier now breached, K-pop artists may finally begin to receive the recognition they deserve," they said.

Music columnist Kim Do-hoon told AFP that the Grammys had long sidelined K-pop because of what he said was its "cookie-cutter format". 

"The Grammys have traditionally placed strong emphasis on musical quality -- an area in which K-pop is not widely recognised," he said.

"They are also known for avoiding heavily produced music, which is often the case with K-pop artists," Kim said.

"Golden" was also nominated for Song of the Year alongside "APT.", sung by K-pop idol Rose and Bruno Mars in a high-octane opening to the ceremony.

Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O'Connell won the coveted category for "Wildflower", a result that surprised some observers in a crowded field.

South Korea has won Grammys in the past in the technical and classical categories, but the award for 'Golden' was the first for a K-pop production.

South Korean media were quick to welcome the song's success in a major award category.

"'Kedehun', which has captivated the world, has triumphed at the Grammys," a Yonhap news agency headline read, using a shorthand title for the film that has been widely adopted in South Korea.

The Kyunghyang Shinmun daily noted that the Grammys had until now stopped short of honouring K-pop acts.

"The Grammys have long been seen as a conservative awards show that is not particularly open to diverse music genres, making it difficult for K-pop to break through," it said.

The Song of the Year nominations for "Golden" and "APT." were "meaningful milestones" even though they did not win, Kyunghyang said.

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Gaza's key Rafah border crossing reopened to Palestinians on Monday, an Israeli security official said, though Egyptian state-linked media said only 50 people would be allowed to cross in each direction in the early days.

The resumption of operations comes after Gaza's civil defence reported dozens killed in a wave of Israeli strikes over the weekend, in what the military said was retaliation for Palestinian fighters exiting a tunnel in Rafah city.

The Rafah crossing with Egypt is Gaza's only gateway to the outside world that does not lead to Israel and is a key access point for both people and goods.

Israeli forces seized control of the crossing in May 2024 during the war with Hamas, and it has remained largely closed since.

A partial resumption of operations began on Sunday in a tightly restricted pilot phase that did not involve travel of people, following months of appeals from aid groups.

"As of this time, and following the arrival of the EUBAM teams on behalf of the European Union, the Rafah crossing has now opened to the movement of residents, for both entry and exit," the Israeli official said, referring to a European border assistance mission.

Egyptian state-linked media reported that 50 people were expected to cross in each direction in the first days of the reopening.

AlQahera News, which is linked to Egypt's state intelligence service, reported citing an unnamed source that "fifty people will depart Egypt for Gaza and fifty people will come from Gaza, in the first days of the operation".

A source at the border told AFP a few dozen people arrived on the Egyptian side on Monday awaiting entry into Gaza.

Israeli state broadcaster Kan reported that the crossing would be open for about six hours daily.

"The Rafah crossing is a lifeline," said Mohammed Nassir, a Palestinian who had his leg amputated after being injured early in the war.

"I need to undergo surgery that is unavailable in Gaza but can be performed abroad."

- Hospitals preparing -

Gaza's civil defence agency, which operates as a rescue force under Hamas authority, said Israeli bombings killed 32 people including children in Gaza on Saturday.

Israel's military said the strikes were retaliation for an incident on Friday in which eight Palestinian fighters exited a tunnel in Rafah, which it said violated the fragile US-sponsored ceasefire in effect since October 10.

The EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas said the opening of the Rafah crossing "marks a concrete and positive step in the peace plan," for the war-battered territory. 

"The EU's civilian mission is on the ground to monitor crossing operations and support Palestinian border guards," she wrote online. 

An official at Gaza's health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority, said on Sunday about 200 patients were waiting for permission to leave the territory. 

The director of Gaza City's Al-Shifa Hospital, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, said there were 20,000 patients in the territory, including 4,500 children, in urgent need of treatment.

Rafah is considered a key entry point into and out of Gaza, where humanitarian conditions remain dire after two years of war.

The crossing had been briefly opened in early 2025 but has been largely shut since it was seized by Israeli forces.

AFP images from Sunday showed ambulances queued up on the Egyptian side preparing to receive medical evacuees, who were expected to be the first groups allowed out.

AlQahera News, citing Egypt's health ministry, reported that 150 hospitals and 300 ambulances had been prepared to receive Palestinian patients.   

It said 12,000 doctors and 30 rapid deployment teams had been allocated to work with the transferred Palestinians.

- No aid entry so far -

COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body coordinating Palestinian civilian affairs, made no mention of allowing in a long-hoped-for surge of aid, speaking only of the passage of individuals "in both directions".

AlQahera News reported that the Egyptian side of the crossing would remain open "round the clock".

Israel had previously tied Rafah's reopening to the return of the remains of Ran Gvili, the last Israeli hostage held in Gaza. His body was recovered and buried last week, prompting Israel to announce the phased reopening.

Rafah lies in an area held by Israeli forces following their withdrawal behind a so-called "Yellow Line" under the terms of the US-brokered ceasefire.

Israeli troops still control more than half of Gaza, while the rest remains under Hamas authority.

The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliation left at least 71,795 people dead in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, whose figures the UN considers reliable.

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