Israel-Hamas War: Foreigners Leave Gaza As Rafah Border Opens For First Time

Foreigners left the war-torn Gaza for Egypt after the Rafah border crossing opened for the first time since the beginning of the war

Trucks carrying humanitarian aid wait on the Palestinian side at the Rafah border. Scores of foreign passport holders trapped in Gaza started leaving the war-torn Palestinian territory on November 1 when the Rafah crossing to Egypt was opened up for the first time since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel

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Scores of people holding foreign passports left the war-torn Gaza for Egypt after the Rafah border crossing opened for the first time since the beginning of the war on October 7, reported AFP.  Scores of people and cars moved through the gates as Gaza suffered "complete interruption of all communications and internet services” for a second time, reported Al Jazeera. 

The Gaza Borders and Crossings Authority earlier this morning published a list of more than 500 foreigners and dual citizenship holders, calling them to head towards the crossing in order to leave Gaza. 

Over 200 aid trucks also crossed into Gaza as the crossing opened on Wednesday. 

Ahead of the border opening, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said he expected “a first group of foreign nationals” to leave Gaza.

“UK teams are ready to assist British nationals as soon as they are able to leave. It’s vital that lifesaving humanitarian aid can enter Gaza as quickly as possible,” he wrote on X.

According to the AFP report, citing foreign government, there are passport holders from 44 countries, including UN bodies, living in the Gaza Strip where a population of 2.4 million Palestinians have endured more than three weeks of unrelenting Israeli bombardment in response to the October 7 Hamas attacks.

Media reports had earlier stated that around 80 injured Palestinians from Gaza Strip will be taken to Egypt for treatment, though it was unclear at the time of writing this report if they have been able to cross to the Egyptian, as per BBC. 

The ambulances had earlier entered into Gaza to collect wounded people and take them to Egypt, which has built a field hospital about 10km from the border, the BBC report added. 

As per the Hamas-run heatlh authorities in Gaza, over 8,500 people have been killed in the Israeli bombardments so far since October 7 while 21,543 have been injured.