hundreds of people, holders of foreign passports, waited today Tuesday at the Rafah terminal, inside the Gaza Strip, to leave for Egypt, leaving this Palestinian territory that is constantly bombarded by the Israeli army, according to AFP.

In Paris, the French Foreign Ministry announced today that more than a hundred French citizens, officials and beneficiaries were able to exit the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. “Two groups of French citizens, employees and people who were entitled, were able to leave on Monday and Tuesday from this territory, which is under constant Israeli bombardment, and are safe in Egypt,” a statement said. “This brings to over 100 the total number of people who left France in an organized (initiative) manner.”

“The border post at Rafah opened this morning and arrangements are being made for departures,” Wael Abu Omer, a spokesman for the administration on the Palestinian side of the terminal, told AFP.

As the crossings were set to begin in the early afternoon, the first arrivals on the Egyptian side were already seen, such as an injured Palestinian being carried on a stretcher to an Egyptian ambulance.

The terminal representative spoke of a directory with 500 people who have been allowed to enter Egypt today.

In front of the terminal, Farid Nawasra, a father from Gaza who holds a Russian passport, says he has been waiting for days to get on that list.

“My children have seen horrible things, we have suffered a lot and we hope today that they will allow us to pass,” he told AFP.

For Romanian passport holder Miriam Abu Shaaban, the fact that she reached the terminal is a relief: “I’m happy that we managed to reach the border because the road was so dangerous to get here.”

Over three days last week, between Wednesday and Friday, dozens of wounded Palestinians and hundreds of foreign passport holders were removed from the enclave. After the outpost was closed for two days, departures from Rafa resumed yesterday, Monday.

“Yesterday, Monday96 trucks with humanitarian aid arrived” while “19 injured, one patient and nearly 200 foreign citizens also left,” the crossing point spokesman clarified.

Satellite images show devastation at the Erez border post, the main crossing point between the northern Gaza Strip and southern Israel, which has been closed since October 7.

There are other crossing points but they are for the transport of goods or have been closed for years.

Exceptionally, the Kerem Abu Salem border post (Kerem Shalom as it is called on the Israeli side) was opened on Friday to allow many Palestinian workers detained in Israel since the start of the war to cross into Gaza.