According to an AFP reporter on the ground, dozens of foreigners and persons with dual nationality fled the Gaza Strip for Egypt on Wednesday using the Rafah border terminal, which opened to the public on the 26th day of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
After the Egyptian authorities declared that the terminal had opened particularly to let the entrance of approximately 545 foreign nationals and nearly 90 wounded Palestinians, they were permitted to arrive at around 07:45 GMT.
An announcement made on Tuesday night stated that only injured people would be permitted to travel through the terminal. However, on Wednesday morning, officials from Egypt and Palestine announced that approximately 545 foreigners and citizens of Egypt would also be permitted to exit the Gaza Strip.
The administration of the Palestinian side of the terminal released a list of them along with their names, nationalities, and passport numbers.
A Palestinian official at the terminal stated that 88 injured individuals—40 of whom were women, children, and elderly—were scheduled to depart via Rafah in order to receive medical care in Egyptian hospitals.
“The children and some of the elderly will have escorts with them”, said the official.
The spokesman for the Gaza-based Hamas government’s Ministry of Health, Ashraf al-Qudra, told AFP that his office had sent a list of 4,000 injured patients who needed medical attention that was not available in the Gaza Strip to Egypt.
“We hope they will be able to leave in the next few days because they need surgery that cannot be performed in Gaza. Their lives must be saved”, he said.
