A group of Palestinians with dual nationality crossed the Rafah crossing from Gaza on Wednesday towards Egypt, in parallel with the entry into the Palestinian side of dozens of ambulances to transfer wounded Gazans to Egyptian hospitals, according to witnesses and Egyptian media.
It is the first time that the southern border of the strip has been reopened for the transfer of wounded since the beginning of the Israeli bombings in the Palestinian enclave. Until now, Egypt was reluctant to this possibility for fear that Israel would expel thousands of Palestinians to its country and thus expose itself to having to manage a serious humanitarian crisis. The news of the reopening of the crossing comes after it became public yesterday that Israel pressured Egypt, through the European Union, to open its border with the strip.
For the moment, Egypt confirmed that it will receive 81 seriously injured people from the Gaza Strip this Wednesday to receive treatment in Egyptian medical centers, at least 40 of whom have already crossed the border and have been admitted to hospitals in northern Sinai.
The Egyptian Minister of Health, Khaled Abdelghafar, confirmed for his part that Egypt will receive today 81 Palestinians who represent "the first group of wounded and sick Palestinian brothers," and that his department has assigned 40 ambulances for their transfer to Egyptian health centers. .
For his part, the Egyptian Minister of Military Production said, in another statement, that he has prepared a field hospital "to care for the wounded of the brother Palestinian people," although without specifying the total number of wounded who will be transferred to Egypt.
He explained that the hospital "can be built on an area of 1,000 square meters, and includes three reception rooms, an intensive care room, a surgical operation unit, an X-ray unit and a laboratory."
The Gaza Ministry of the Interior confirmed this Wednesday that it has authorized the departure of foreigners of various nationalities from the Strip.
The General Agency for Crossings and Borders in Gaza, dependent on the Ministry, indicated in a statement on its Facebook page that it summoned foreign passport holders in Gaza at 7:00 a.m. local time (05:00 GMT time) to cross into Egypt through the Rafa land pass.
It published a list of about 500 people, which includes both Palestinians with foreign passports and citizens of other countries, with nationalities such as Japanese, Austrians and Bulgarians, as well as workers from international organizations such as Doctors Without Borders Spain and France.
The exact number or nationalities of the people Egypt allowed to cross the border, and who have been waiting on the Palestinian side since the start of the conflict three weeks ago, are still unknown. The Egyptian television channels ExtraNews and Cairo News confirmed the "departure from Gaza of the first group of Palestinians with dual nationality" and did not rule out that the number of those allowed to cross the crossing could reach one hundred.
The Egyptian television channels ExtraNews and Cairo News confirmed the "departure from Gaza of the first group of Palestinians with dual nationality" and did not rule out that the number of those allowed to cross the crossing could reach one hundred. The same television channels show images of a long queue of other Egyptian ambulances in front of the gate of the Rafah crossing, the only entrance and exit to the Palestinian territory under siege that is not in the hands of Israel, and which are also scheduled to enter the Palestinian side to transfer "serious cases."
The acting Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, has assured that the Armed Forces are prepared to "carry out any evacuation mission" in the event that citizens with Spanish nationality can leave Gaza through the Rafah border crossing.
"At this moment I do not know what the situation is, what I do know is that we are prepared in case citizens with Spanish nationality are in Gaza and pass that step. (...) The Armed Forces are prepared to carry out any evacuation mission," Robles told journalists after visiting the Operations Command and maintaining communication with the commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Aroldo Lázaro.
Robles has confirmed that there are Spanish citizens who have shown their willingness to leave Gaza and go to Egypt: "From this Operations Command they have everything prepared in their case so that they can carry out the evacuations," he stated.
The Minister of Defense has acknowledged that at this moment the situation "is very complicated, very hard, very difficult" and has indicated that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is attentive to the situation of the Spanish people in Gaza.
The Egyptian government, a key mediator between Israel and the Palestinians, stated since mid-October that it has placed hospitals in North Sinai, such as Al Arish and Beir al Abd, as well as the Naser Institute medical center in Cairo, to receive wounded Palestinians. In addition to the medical centers in North Sinai, Cairo has sent mobile clinics to the area and increased health personnel in various medical specialties, while stockpiling all types of medical supplies, blood bags and putting the hospital on alert. emergency system to treat "epidemics".
The Gaza Ministry of Health warned on Tuesday that the humanitarian crisis is generating a wave of epidemics that already affects some 3,100 people, most of them children with scabies, diarrhea, bronchial infections, food poisoning and chickenpox.
Several United Nations agencies have denounced the Israeli attacks on the Gaza health system and warned of the deteriorating situation of hospitals in the Palestinian enclave, due to bombings, shortages of medical supplies and lack of fuel, and amid constant communications outages.
