A group of injured evacuees from Gaza entered Egypt on Wednesday as part of a mediation effort led by Qatar, according to Egyptian security sources. Meanwhile, Israeli forces continued their offensive against Hamas in the Palestinian enclave.
Under a deal brokered between Egypt, Israel, and Hamas, several foreigners and critically wounded individuals were allowed to leave Gaza, where they had been trapped.
The evacuation took place after another day of violence in Gaza, including an Israeli airstrike on a refugee camp that reportedly killed around 50 people, according to Palestinian health officials. Israel claimed that the strike targeted a senior Hamas commander and other combatants.
Residents in Gaza reported that Israeli forces carried out bombings and shelling from land, sea, and air, causing additional casualties among the civilian population.
Israel’s military incursion into Hamas-controlled Gaza followed weeks of air and artillery attacks in retaliation for a deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7. Israel has expressed its intention to eliminate Hamas, but the high civilian death toll in Gaza and the worsening humanitarian situation has raised significant concerns worldwide, with shortages of food, fuel, drinking water, and medical supplies, as well as challenges in providing medical care to the wounded.
An Egyptian security source indicated that up to 500 foreign passport holders were expected to cross the Rafah border on Wednesday, with about 200 people waiting on the Palestinian side of the border. However, it was unclear how many would be able to evacuate on that day, and there was no specified duration for keeping the crossing open for evacuations.
A Western official mentioned that a list of individuals holding foreign passports eligible for leaving Gaza had been agreed upon by Israel and Egypt, and relevant embassies had been informed. An Israeli official, speaking anonymously, confirmed that Israel was working with Egypt to coordinate these evacuations.
