Once the deadline for the evacuation of the population of northern Gaza has expired, the evacuation of 250 Spanish residents is complicated. Spain had negotiated with Israel and Egypt the evacuation of its citizens in the Gaza Strip through the border crossing with Egypt, but hours later this country has refused to allow foreigners to leave Gaza if humanitarian aid is not allowed in.
“The Rafa crossing will be prepared from 12 to 5:00 p.m.; on the Egyptian side, a delegation from the Spanish Embassy in Egypt will be waiting for the Spanish colony and they will take us to Cairo and then we will be waiting for a plane that is coming from Madrid to pick us up and take us to Spain,” the coordinator of the Spanish community in Gaza, Salah al Sousi, told EFE. However, these plans have subsequently been frustrated.
According to sources from the Egyptian television Al Qahera News, close to the Intelligence of this country, Egypt refused to allow the crossing of foreigners who are in Gaza, a request that several countries have made, after an agreement was not reached. agreement so that aid could come in for the 2.2 million people overcrowded in the strip.
According to testimonies cited by this same medium, an undetermined group of foreign citizens waited for several hours at the border crossing without obtaining any response from the Egyptian authorities.
Rafah is the only exit from the Gaza Strip that is not controlled by Israel and the only way for humanitarian aid to enter the enclave. The Egyptian authorities have reported in recent days that the area around the Rafah crossing has been bombed by Israel. , which has caused interruptions in border crossing operations, although Cairo states that it maintains that the crossing remains open to “traffic”, without providing further details.
The intense Israeli bombings on the Gaza Strip, in retaliation for the deadly attack by the Islamist organization Hamas on Israel last Saturday, have already left more than 1,900 dead and more than 7,700 injured. Added to this is a total blockade by Israel, which does not allow the entry of goods, food, water, electricity or fuel, and serious interruptions of telephone and internet service.
On Friday, Israel warned the inhabitants of the northern part of the Gaza Strip, approximately one million people, that they should urgently move to the southern half to save their lives, given that an even more intense war campaign against the Gaza City, dominated by Hamas.
