Egypt to help remove ‘around 7,000 foreigners and dual nationals from Gaza’the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced today while more foreigners are preparing to leave the blockaded Palestinian enclave today.

In a meeting with foreign diplomats, the Deputy Foreign Minister Ismail Khairat said Egypt is preparing “to facilitate the reception and removal of foreign citizens from Gaza through the Rafah crossing” and added that they are “about 7,000 people of over 60 nationalities».

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Egypt’s foreign ministry summoned representatives of foreign embassies to a meeting in Cairo to provide information about the documents needed to allow citizens of their countries to enter Egypt from the Palestinian enclave.

At the moment it has not been clarified whether the 7,000 mentioned by the deputy minister are only foreigners or also Palestinian holders of a second passport. It was also not clarified if there are other foreigners in Gaza who do not want to leave the Palestinian enclave.

The ministry also did not elaborate on the timetable of Egypt’s plan to remove people from the Gaza Strip.

yesterday, wednesday, 76 Palestinian wounded were taken away in ambulances and 335 foreigners and people with dual citizenship by buses through the Rafah border crossing, for the first time since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out.

Among the foreigners are 31 Austrians, 4 Italians, 5 French as well as German nationals, the number of which was not specified.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said American citizens had also left Gaza, without specifying a number.

From October 7, the densely populated Palestinian enclave has been pounded relentlessly by Israel in retaliation for the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas’ unprecedented and bloody attack on Israeli soil.

The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is described as catastrophic by the UN and non-governmental organizations based there.X

Alongside the Palestinian Red Crescent announced yesterday, Wednesday, evening that received humanitarian aid carried by another 55 trucksbringing the total to 272, which however remains far short of what is needed, according to aid workers.

Over 8,700 people, including 3,648 children, have been killed in Gaza since October 7according to the health ministry of Hamas, which is in power in the Palestinian enclave.

In Israel, more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the Hamas attack, according to Israeli authorities.