Foreigners are allowed to leave the country
The first Germans leave the Gaza Strip for Egypt
November 1, 2023, 7:00 p.m
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In order to make it possible to leave the Gaza Strip, the government in Cairo is opening the Rafah border crossing for foreigners and Palestinians with dual citizenship. According to information from Berlin, the first Germans are already on Egyptian soil.
According to the Foreign Office, the first Germans have been able to leave the Gaza Strip. “After intensive efforts, a team from our Cairo embassy was able to receive the first Germans who had left the country at the border crossing in Rafah,” the Foreign Office announced on the online service X, formerly Twitter. These are employees of international aid organizations.
Berlin is “continuing to work flat out on the departure of the remaining Germans in Gaza,” the Foreign Office said. Germany’s efforts to rescue the German hostages kidnapped by the radical Islamic Palestinian organization Hamas also continued “intensively.” It also said: “We are also working to increase urgently needed aid deliveries for the people of Gaza.”
The Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt was opened to people today for the first time since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas. It is the only border crossing into the Gaza Strip that is not controlled by Israel. In the past few weeks, only aid convoys were allowed to pass through. The opening to people for the first time today was based on an agreement between Egypt, Hamas and Israel brokered by the Gulf Emirate of Qatar. This means that hundreds of foreigners and Palestinians can now leave the otherwise sealed-off coastal strip towards Egypt with a second passport.
Egypt takes in the injured
According to Egyptian information, more than 400 people were able to leave the Gaza Strip during the day. An official said 76 injured people and 335 people with foreign or dual citizenship had reached Egypt. According to eyewitnesses and the Red Crescent, among those who have already been able to leave the Gaza Strip were citizens of the USA, Canada, Austria, Finland, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria as well as Japan, Australia and Indonesia. People from Egypt, Jordan and Algeria were also waiting to leave the country.
According to reports, after crossing the border they will be taken to Cairo airport and continue their journey from there. The respective embassies organize the transport. France and Italy have now confirmed the departure of five and four of their nationals respectively. The Interior Ministry, which is controlled by Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, had published a list of around 500 names of those for whom an exit was being prepared. Two Germans are also listed there who work for the United Nations and for an aid organization in the Gaza Strip.
It is unclear how many foreigners and Palestinians with second passports are currently in the Gaza Strip and how many want to leave. Palestinian injured people were also brought across the border to Egypt for treatment for the first time. The Egyptian Red Crescent confirmed that “a new batch of wounded and injured Palestinians” had been admitted to hospitals near the border.
According to Israeli information, the radical Islamic Hamas, which rules in the Gaza Strip, killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped at least 240 people into the Gaza Strip, including Germans, in an unprecedented major attack on Israel on October 7th. In response to the Hamas attack, Israel put the Gaza Strip under constant fire and completely sealed off the Palestinian territory. Hundreds of thousands of people fled to the south of the Gaza Strip, and hundreds have been waiting for weeks for an opportunity to leave.