Gaza: A first group of injured evacuees from Gaza crossed into Egypt on Wednesday under a Qatari-mediated deal, as Israeli forces pressed their battle against Hamas militants in the Palestinian enclave. The evacuees were driven in ambulances through the Rafah border crossing.
The evacuees were driven in ambulances through the Rafah border crossing. Under the deal reached between Egypt, Israel and Hamas, a number of foreigners and critically wounded people will be allowed to leave the besieged territory. The evacuation followed another day of bloodshed in Gaza in which an Israeli air strike on Tuesday killed about 50 people in a refugee camp, according to Palestinian health officials.
Israel said the attack killed a senior Hamas commander and many other combatants. Israel sent its forces into Hamas-controlled Gaza following weeks of air and artillery bombardments in retaliation for a deadly attack by the Islamist group on southern Israel on Oct 7.
Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas. But the civilian death toll in Gaza and the desperate humanitarian conditions have caused great concern across the world as food, fuel, drinking water and medicine run short and hospitals struggle to treat casualties. An Egyptian security source had said earlier that up to 500 foreign passport holders will pass the Rafah border crossing on Wednesday. About 200 people were waiting at the Palestinian side of the border on Wednesday morning, the source said.
A second source said not all were expected to make it out on Wednesday. There was no timeline for how long the crossing will remain open for evacuation, they added. A Western official said a list of people with foreign passports who can leave Gaza had been agreed between Israel and Egypt and relevant embassies have been informed. An Israeli official who requested anonymity confirmed that Israel was coordinating the exits with Egypt.
Egypt has prepared a field hospital in Sheikh Zuwayed in the Sinai, medical sources said. Ambulances could be seen waiting at the Rafah crossing. The first source said this deal, however, was not linked to other issues, such as the release of about 240 hostages held by Hamas or a “humanitarian pause” in the fighting which many countries have called for but which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected.
The Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 killed about 300 soldiers and some 1,100 civilians, Israeli figures say. At least 8,525 Palestinians, including 3,542 children, were killed in retaliatory Israeli strikes on Gaza since Oct.7, the Gaza health ministry says.