It was the first time Egypt had let people from the Gaza Strip through the crossing since Israel began an intense crackdown on the Islamist movement. in Hamas targets in Gaza after Islamist militants invaded Israel on October 7, killing 1,400 people and taking 239 hostages, according to the BBC.
The Director General of the UN World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Ghebreyesus, has welcomed Egypt’s decision to allow seriously injured people from the Gaza Strip and promised that the WHO will support the Egyptian Ministry of Health in planning the evacuation of the wounded.
The Gaza Border Authority had released a list of foreign nationals or dual nationals who were allowed to leave Gaza through the Rafah border crossing on Wednesday. It consisted mostly of Jordanian citizens, but also citizens of Austria, Japan, Bulgaria, Indonesia and Australia. A separate section of the list for non-governmental organization staff also included two UK nationals and two Filipino nationals representing the organization Doctors Without Borders. The administration had determined that you should arrive at the border point at seven in the morning, local time, as mentioned in the list.
The BBC’s Rushdie Abualuf reported from the Rafah border crossing that around 500 people had gathered there in the morning, waiting to be allowed to enter Egypt. Palestinian passport control officers had said that the documents of the 88 injured Palestinians would be checked first, followed by foreign or dual citizens. About seven thousand dual citizens are registered in the Gaza Strip. It is predicted that 500 people per day will be allowed to cross the border.
Reuters reports that Qatar was a mediator in reaching an agreement between Egypt, Israel and in Hamas open the border for the evacuation of the critically injured and foreign passport holders.
Egypt had sent ambulances to the border crossing to evacuate the wounded Palestinians, who took the wounded to the specially built field hospital in nearby Sheikhzuwayd, where the wounded are to be examined to decide which hospitals they will be transferred to.
2023-11-02 06:31:09
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