Dozens of people entered the Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt on Wednesday, in what appeared to be the first time foreign passport holders have been allowed to leave the besieged territory since the start of the Israel-Hamas war more than three weeks ago.
Hundreds have gathered at the crossing at different times in recent weeks, but have not been allowed out due to disagreements among Egypt, Israel and Hamas.
But an agreement appeared to have been reached Wednesday. The Palestinian crossing authority said more than 400 foreign passport holders would be permitted to leave for Egypt, as would some wounded people.
Egypt has said it will not accept an influx of Palestinian refugees because of fears Israel will not allow them to return to Gaza after the war.
Dozens of people could be seen entering the Rafah crossing — the only one currently operating — and ambulances carrying wounded Palestinians exited on the Egyptian side. More than 80 Palestinians were being brought from Gaza to Egypt on Wednesday for medical treatment. Ambulances were seen entering the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side, and a field hospital has been set up in the nearby town of Sheikh Zuweid.
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CBC News has seen a list from the Palestinian border authority of names potentially in line to leave Gaza on Wednesday, which includes foreign nationals from several countries and non-governmental organizations, but no North Americans yet.
Global Affairs Canada said Tuesday that it was in contact with 460 Canadian citizens in Gaza, and dozens of others in West Bank.
“We continue to work around the clock to secure a window for Canadians to exit Gaza,” Global Affairs said. “We are communicating directly with Canadians, giving them the latest information regarding the situation and any potential windows for possible exit at the Rafah border crossing.”
The Palestinian border authority said more than 400 foreign passport holders would be permitted to leave Gaza on Wednesday. Egypt has said it will not accept an influx of Palestinian refugees because of fears Israel will not allow them to return to Gaza after the war.
Meanwhile, communication was being restored in Gaza after Palestinians reported another widespread outage of internet and phone service in Gaza for several hours early Wednesday.
“Even the potentially life-saving act of calling an ambulance becomes impossible,” said Jessica Moussan, an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) spokesperson.
Humanitarian aid agencies have warned that such blackouts severely disrupt their work in an already dire situation in Gaza, where more than half of the population of 2.3 million Palestinians has been displaced and basic supplies are running low more than three weeks into the war triggered by Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel, which left about 1,400 dead, including several Canadians. Palestinian militants also abducted around 240 people, with four hostages released thus far, while continuing to fire rockets into Israel.
Refugee camp struck again
More than 8,500 Palestinians have been killed in the war, mostly women and minors, the Gaza Health Ministry said Tuesday, without providing a breakdown between civilians and fighters.
The Hamas-run government in Gaza said Israeli airstrikes have hit apartment buildings in a refugee camp near Gaza City for a second day in a row, causing many deaths and injuries. Al-Jazeera television, which is still reporting from northern Gaza, aired footage of devastation and of several wounded people, including children, being brought to a nearby hospital.
Featured VideoIn a paper circulated among Israeli intelligence, officials discuss possible outcomes for the population of Gaza in the Israel-Hamas conflict, one of which includes forcing Gaza’s more than two million inhabitants out of the territory into Egypt. The paper also mentions Canada as a place that could take in refugees.
On Tuesday, a barrage of airstrikes levelled apartment buildings in the refugee camp. The director of a nearby hospital where casualties were taken, Dr. Atef Al-Kahlot, said hundreds of people were wounded or killed, but the exact toll was not yet known.
Israel said Tuesday’s strike, which targeted senior Hamas military leader Ibrahim Biari, destroyed a militant command centre and an underground tunnel network, and killed dozens of other fighters. Military spokesperson Jonathan Conricus said Biari had also been a key planner of the Oct. 7 attack, and that the apartment buildings collapsed only because the underground Hamas complex had been destroyed.
Neither side’s account could be independently confirmed.
In recent days, Israeli troops have advanced toward the outskirts of Gaza City from the north and east. Israeli officials say Hamas’ military infrastructure, including hundreds of kilometres of tunnels, is concentrated in the city.
The Israeli military also said Wednesday it had deployed missile boats in the Red Sea, following long-range drone and missile attacks claimed by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen.
Featured VideoEgyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly at the Rafah border crossing with Gaza blamed the Israeli government for not allowing badly needed aid to get into Gaza. He also rejected the possibility of forcing Palestinians to move into north Sinai in Egypt.
Gaza has been sealed off since the start of the war, causing shortages of food, water, medicine and fuel. Israel has allowed international aid groups to send more than 200 trucks carrying food and medicine to enter from Egypt over the past 10 days, but aid workers say it’s not nearly enough. Blinken said Tuesday that the Biden administration hopes 1,000 trucks per day could be entering by the end of this week.
Israel has barred fuel imports, on fears Hamas would confiscate it to use for military purposes.
Objectives after Hamas unclear
Israel has been vague about its operations in Gaza, but residents and spokesmen for militant groups say troops appear to be trying to take control of the two main north-south roads.
Israel has vowed to crush Hamas’s ability to govern Gaza or threaten it, while also saying it does not plan to reoccupy the territory, from which it withdrew soldiers and settlers in 2005. But it has said little about who would govern Gaza afterwards.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken suggested on Tuesday in congressional testimony that “at some point, what would make the most sense is for an effective and revitalized Palestinian Authority to have governance and ultimately security responsibility for Gaza.”
Hamas drove PA forces out of Gaza in a week of heavy fighting in 2007, leaving it with limited authority over parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Palestinian support for the President Mahmoud Abbas has plunged since then, with many Palestinians dismissing the PA as little more than a security subcontractor for Israel, because it helps suppress Hamas and other militant groups.
An estimated 800,000 Palestinians have fled south from Gaza City and other northern areas following Israeli orders to evacuate, but hundreds of thousands remain there.