Greece’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that a number of Greek citizens and family members have evacuated from Gaza to Egypt via the Rafah border crossing.
The civilians, alongside hundreds of other foreign nationals and dozens of seriously injured Palestinians were allowed to leave Gaza for the first time since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.
The Greek diplomatic source said that “sixteen persons, Greek citizens and their family members, passed from Gaza to Egypt today via the Rafah border crossing.”
“Twelve of them entered Egypt this afternoon, while the safe evacuation of an additional four was just completed.
“The Greek citizens and their families are currently in Egypt and will be transferred to Greece shortly.”
According to Reuters, the Palestinian border authority published what appeared to be a list of those approved to leave on Thursday.
It included 596 names, all classified by country (15 of them) and checked by Israel, with 24 of the names from Greece.
CNN reported that an Egyptian official said over 360 foreign passport holders crossed the Rafah border crossing and that 491 foreign nationals were registered to arrive in Egypt.
The remaining either didn’t make it to the border crossing or refused to leave without their families, whose names were not registered on the list.
Nearly 7000 people from more than 60 countries are expected to leave, which may take up to two weeks.
Gaza has been under a total blockade and continuous bombardment for almost a month. It is reported that the ensuing bombardment of the Palestinian enclave of 2.3 million people has killed at least 9,061 people, including 3,760 children, according to health authorities in Gaza, which is run by Hamas.
