Around 500 foreigners and dual nationals, as well as several wounded Palestinians, were evacuated from the Israeli-bombed Gaza Strip to Egypt on Sunday, reports from both sides of the border said.
Some “500 foreign nationals from 15 different countries entered Egypt,” an Egyptian security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
AlQahera News, an outlet close to the Egyptian intelligence services, reported the crossing of an additional “seven wounded Palestinians” through the terminal.
Rafah is the only crossing out of Gaza not controlled by Israel, and had been closed on Friday and Saturday.
The vast majority of Gaza’s 2.4 million residents are unable to escape the war, which erupted between the territory’s Hamas rulers and Israel on October 7.
The border authority of the Hamas government in Gaza had called late Saturday for “all foreign passport holders and people on evacuation lists” to report to the terminal, located at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip and leading to Egypt’s Sinai.
Since November 1, dozens of wounded Palestinians have been evacuated to Egyptian hospitals, with hundreds of dual nationals and foreigners, including Americans, French, Russians and Poles, also leaving through Rafah.
The bloodiest-ever Gaza war broke out after Hamas fighters poured through the militarised border with Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 240 people hostage, according to the most recent Israeli figures.
Among the captives there are at least 30 children, according to Israeli officials.
Israel’s relentless campaign in response has killed more than 11,000 people, also mostly civilians and including thousands of children, according to the latest figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
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