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Published November 3, 2023, 9:51 p.m. ET
Hamas attempts to smuggle wounded terrorists out of Palestinian territory have delayed ongoing efforts to get foreign nationals, including Americans, out of the Gaza Strip, the Biden administration announced Friday.
“Hamas has not allowed anyone to leave the country,” a senior Biden administration official said during a call with reporters. “And then they said that they would allow foreign nationals to leave, provided that a number of wounded Palestinians were also allowed to leave, which of course is not objectionable.
“But the list presented, upon review, revealed that about a third of the wounded Palestinians on the list were members of Hamas,” the official continued, calling the pretext “unacceptable.”
According to the official, about 6,000 foreign nationals were trapped in the war zone, including up to 500 U.S. citizens, mostly dual nationals.
Hamas has been denying thousands of foreign nationals safe exit from Gaza for weeks, according to a senior Biden administration official.STRINGER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
President Biden announced Wednesday that Hamas had finally agreed to allow some U.S. citizens to leave the Gaza Strip along with wounded Palestinians and other foreign nationals.
The Biden administration official said Qatar and Egypt had been “critical” in negotiations with Hamas.
On Thursday, Biden told reporters that “74 dual-citizen Americans” were able to leave the Gaza Strip into neighboring Egypt through the Rafah border crossing. Five Americans were able to leave the country the day before.
74 US citizens were able to leave the Gaza Strip on Thursday. AFP via Getty Images
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said he expected more Americans to be able to leave “at a similar pace, if not faster, than what we have seen.”
The urgency to leave Gaza has increased in recent days as Israel stepped up military operations in the narrow strip of land and heavily bombed Hamas targets.
An Israeli airstrike targeting Hamas leaders in Gaza’s densely populated Jabalia refugee camp reportedly killed at least 50 people earlier this week.
“It’s not our military, it’s not a U.S. military campaign, and so I don’t want to be the quarterback here, but I will say if there are incidents, we will certainly have discussions with the Israelis,” Biden said government official said when asked about the strike, calling the images of the aftermath “horrifying.”
“According to the statements we received from the Israelis, it was not just a battalion, a battalion commander, but a number of its leaders, a significant contingent of that battalion,” the official added, noting that “the intention was not to collapse the battalion. “Block.”
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