Egypt rejects foreign citizens' entry from Gaza without aid delivery arrangements

CAIRO – 14 October 2023: Egypt refused to allow foreign citizens, including Americans stranded at the Rafah border crossing, to leave the strip through it: officials from Gaza told Al Qahera News channel.

Egypt conditioned that the Rafah border crossing should be also for sending humanitarian aid to Palestinians who are under the Israeli attack and besiege, the officials added.

It was reported by AFP that a US official said Israel and Egypt agree to “allow American citizens to leave Gaza through the Rafah crossing today,” adding “the United States did not yet have confirmation that the agreement was being implemented.”

Over the past days, Al-Arish in Egypt’s northern Sinai received tons of urgent humanitarian aid from many countries to be delivered to the Palestinian people in Gaza, who total more than 2 million people.

Israel has called Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to leave their homes and head for the southern part of the strip, near the Egyptian border city of Al Arish, ahead of the Israeli ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, which has been bombed since October 7. The Israeli call reflects how Israel is working to expel all Palestinians from their lands and violating international laws and norms.

Hamas' Qassam Brigades launched Saturday an offensive on Israeli settlements in the occupied lands by firing 5,000 missiles in 20 minutes, invoking airstrikes on Gaza that incurred scores of casualties and have not ceased until present.

Hamas fighters launched their military operation to put an end to the suffering of the Palestinians due to the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip and due to the intensive provocative actions by Israeli forces and settlers against the Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Palestine has 2,215 martyrs and wounded 8,714 others in the Gaza Strip, while in the West Bank, the number of martyrs reached 54 people and about 1,100 were injured.

Israel announced that the number of deaths reached 1,300 Israelis and 3,300 others were injured.

Egypt warned against the serious dangers of the continuous Israeli escalation against the Palestinians when the Israeli forces stormed and attacked many parts of the occupied lands in Jenin of the West Bank.