The second group of volunteer doctors crossed into the Gaza Strip on Saturday to help treat the injured Palestinians in the current Israeli offensive against the impoverished enclave.

Approved by the Egyptian authorities, the 15 doctors, including11 Egyptians, three Jordanians and one Belgian, entered Gaza via the Rafah land crossing at the Egyptian-Gaza border, said the Egyptian MENA news agency.

Earlier on Friday, a delegation of the Arab Doctors Syndicate entered the coastal strip via Rafah, said MENA.

So far, the death toll of Palestinians since the beginning of the Israeli military offensive on Gaza on December 27 has risen to 824, and more than 3,500 were wounded.

Egypt has also decided to open the Rafah crossing and received hundreds of injured Palestinians for treatment in Egyptian hospitals.

Most of the international humanitarian aids were sent into Gazavia Rafah, the only land crossing linking Gaza with the outside world bypassing Israel.

(Xinhua News Agency January 11, 2009)