War between Israel and Hamas: 5 French were able to leave the Gaza Strip, Quai d’Orsay reports

Perhaps the end of a long diplomatic standoff. The first foreigners or dual citizens were able to leave the Gaza Strip and reach Egypt through the Rafah crossing, an Egyptian official told AFP on Wednesday on condition of anonymity. In total, this first phase of evacuation concerns 335 dual citizens and foreigners, including five French, according to the Quai d’Orsay.

Among them are 22 members of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), including 4 people with French citizenship, the NGO Le Parisien reported. At noon, the 22 people were “evacuated.” When we contacted the four French nationals mentioned by MSF, the French Foreign Ministry did not respond to our requests. MSF did not provide further information about the 22 aid workers who will be able to leave the Gaza Strip, which has been under constant bombardment by the Israeli army since the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7.

90 Palestinians were also injured

On Wednesday morning, the Rafah border crossing separating the Gaza Strip from Egypt was opened on an exceptional basis to allow the evacuation of some people with foreign passports or Palestinians with dual citizenship. 90 wounded Palestinians, including 40 children, will also be able to leave Gaza or have already been able to do so, in addition to 545 eligible foreigners and dual citizens. Their names, nationalities and passport numbers were published by the administration of the Palestinian side of the crossing.

According to foreign offices, this Wednesday in the Gaza Strip, where 2.4 million residents are forced to survive under bombs, without water, without electricity, without telephone or Internet and almost without food, there are citizens of 44 countries, including employees of 28 foreign agencies , organizations or non-governmental organizations. due to the “total siege” imposed by Israel after 16 years of siege.

In Egypt, an AFP correspondent saw at least three ambulances enter the grounds of Sheikh Zueid Hospital, about ten kilometers west of Rafah. Egyptian television also reported that the three wounded were transferred to Al-Arih Hospital, the capital of North Sinai province, about forty kilometers from Rafah. According to a Palestinian official, “there are chaperones with the children and some elderly people.”

Health Ministry spokesman for the Hamas government in Gaza, Ashraf al-Qudra, told AFP that his services had provided Egypt with a list of 4,000 wounded people in need of treatment that could not be provided in the Gaza Strip. “We hope they will be able to leave in the coming days as they require surgical procedures that cannot be carried out in the Gaza Strip. We have to save their lives,” he said.