A US official told AFP that Israel and Egypt agreed to keep the only border crossing between Gaza and Egypt open for five hours on Saturday. Israel ordered on Friday to evacuate “all civilians” from southern Gaza City within 24 hours ahead of an expected ground offensive against Hamas
Israel and Egypt gave the Americans the green light to leave the Gaza Strip via the Rafah border crossing on Saturday, an American official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
These two United States partners agreed to keep the only border crossing between Gaza and Egypt “open from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. (9 a.m. to 2 p.m. GMT),” said an official accompanying Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Riyadh.
Israel ordered on Friday to evacuate “all civilians” from southern Gaza City within 24 hours, ahead of an expected ground offensive against Hamas in retaliation for the deadliest attack in Israel’s history last week.
At least 500 US citizens affected
The United States had not yet confirmed that the agreement had been implemented, “but the intention was to open the passage,” the official added to AFP. According to him, Qatar, where Anthony Blinken visited on Friday, called on the Palestinian movement Hamas, with which it has close ties, to facilitate the movement of people wishing to leave.
The American official said that 500 to 600 American citizens present in Gaza had asked relevant authorities about options to leave the besieged area. He said he did not know whether nationals of other countries had managed to leave the territory.
A “dangerous”, even “impossible” order
“Even wars have rules,” the UN Secretary-General warned on Friday before a Security Council on the situation in Israel and Gaza, calling for “immediate” humanitarian access to the Palestinian enclave under siege.
“Relocating more than a million people through a densely populated war zone to an area without food, water or shelter while the entire area is under siege is extremely dangerous and sometimes simply impossible,” Antonio Guterres told the press.