Hundreds more foreign nationals flee Gaza as bombing toll mounts

AFP | Rafah                                                   

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Hundreds more foreigners and dual nationals fled war-torn Gaza for Egypt yesterday as Israeli forces bombarded and fought ground battles in the besieged Palestinian territory, where thousands have died.

Egypt said it eventually plans to help evacuate 7,000 foreigners through the Rafah crossing and a spokesman for the Palestinian side of the border post said about 100 had been able to leave yesterday.

A total of 400 foreign passport holders as well as 60 severely wounded Palestinians in ambulances were due to cross by the end of the second day of departures, Wael Abu Mohsen said, and Egyptian officials later reported the first arrivals.

A list of those approved to travel Thursday shows hundreds of US citizens and 50 Belgians along with smaller numbers from various European, Arab, Asian and African countries.

“There was no food, no water, no gas, nowhere to take shelter,” said US passport holder Salma Shaath, 14, as she prepared to cross. “People were going to hospitals to sleep, there are a lot of martyrs, there is no internet, no communications and no electricity “Our house was bombed and our situation was difficult, so we came here to Rafah, and now we’re planning to travel.”

The evacuation marks a tiny proportion of the 2.4 million people trapped in Gaza under weeks bombardment since Hamas launched their bloody cross-border attack into Israel on October 7.

Ground battles flared again overnight in northern Gaza as Israeli troops have sought to destroy Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls the territory. Hamas’ assault on October 7, which Israel says claimed 1,400 lives, was the bloodiest in the country’s 75-year-history.

‘Whole families killed’

The Israeli army is also seeking to free around 240 hostages, both civilians and troops, captured by Hamas during the attacks. On Thursday, the military said it had killed dozens of enemy fighters.

“IDF fighters continue to advance in the Gaza City area and conduct face-to-face battles with Hamas t*** and to deepen the fighting,” military spokesman Daniel Hagari told journalists.

“At the end of a battle that lasted several hours and included ground fighting and fire support from aircraft and a missile ship, many t*** were killed.” Some 332 soldiers have already died in the October 7 attacks and in the Israeli offensive the Hamas assault triggered.

Now gruelling urban warfare lies ahead deeper inside Gaza, where Hamas is fighting from a tunnel network spanning hundreds of kilometres (miles). Global concern has risen sharply over Israel’s response, in which the army says it has struck more than 12,000 targets so far. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 9,000 people have died, mostly women and children. Special concern has focused on repeated heavy strikes on Gaza’s largest refugee camp -- densely populated Jabalia, north of Gaza City -- where explosions brought down residential buildings.

Gaza’s Hamas-ruled government said 195 were killed in two days of Israeli strikes on Jabalia, with hundreds more missing and wounded, figures AFP could not independently verify. Hamas said seven of the estimated 242 hostages it is holding, died in Tuesday’s bombings, a claim that was also impossible to verify.

Major strikes also hit Gaza’s Bureij refugee camp and an area near a UN-run school, where the health ministry said 27 had died. Outside the Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City, displaced residents seeking shelter from Israeli strikes told AFP that civilians would not withstand the barrage much longer. “This is not a life. We need a safe place for our kids,” said 50-year-old Hiyam Shamlakh. “Everybody is terrified, children, women and the elderly.