GAZA/JERUSALEM: A first group of injured evacuees from Gaza crossed into Egypt on Wednesday under a Qatari-mediated deal, Egyptian security sources said.
The evacuees were driven in ambulances through the Rafah border crossing. Under the deal reached between Egypt, Israel and Hamas, a number of foreigners and critically wounded people will be allowed to leave the besieged territory in which they have been trapped.
The evacuation followed another day of bloodshed in Gaza in which an Israeli air strike on Tuesday killed about 50 people in a refugee camp, according to Palestinian health officials.
Israel said the attack killed a senior Hamas commander and many other combatants.
Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas. But the civilian death toll in Gaza and desperate humanitarian conditions have caused great concern across the world as food, fuel, drinking water and medicine run short and hospitals struggle to treat casualties.
An Egyptian security source had said earlier that up to 500 foreign passport holders will pass the Rafah border crossing on Wednesday. About 200 people were waiting at the Palestinian side of the border on Wednesday morning, the source said.
A second source said not all were expected to make it out on Wednesday. There was no timeline for how long the crossing will remain open for evacuation, they added.
A Western official said a list of people with foreign passports who can leave Gaza had been agreed between Israel and Egypt and relevant embassies have been informed.
Egypt has prepared a field hospital in Sheikh Zuwayed in the Sinai, medical sources said. Ambulances could be seen waiting at the Rafah crossing.
The first source said the deal, however, was not linked to other issues, such as the release of about 240 hostages held by Hamas or a "humanitarian pause" in the fighting which many countries have called for but which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected.
Indonesia said it was trying to get out 10 nationals but three of them, volunteers at an Indonesia-run hospital, have decided to stay. The Philippines said that two Filipino doctors with Doctors Without Borders NGO were among those leaving Gaza.
Jordan and Italy also said they hoped to bring their citizens out on Wednesday.
The Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 killed about 300 soldiers and some 1,100 civilians, Israeli figures say.
The Gaza health ministry said on Wednesday that at least 8,796 Palestinians, including 3,648 children, have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since Oct.7.
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