First evacuees leave Gaza after another night of Israeli shelling

JERUSALEM/GAZA:

A first batch of civilians displaced from Gaza crossed into Egypt under a Qatar-brokered deal on Wednesday, while Israeli forces bombarded the Palestinian enclave from land, sea and air as they pressed their offensive against Hamas militants.

The evacuees, who have been trapped in Gaza since the start of the war more than three weeks ago, were taken in ambulances through the Rafah border crossing. A border source said they are undergoing security checks on the Egyptian side.

Under the agreement reached between Egypt, Israel and Hamas, some foreign nationals and the seriously wounded will be allowed to leave the besieged area.

Despite progress on the humanitarian front, Israeli warplanes, warships and artillery pounded Gaza overnight, causing dozens more civilian casualties, Palestinian residents said.

Hospitals struggled to cope as fuel shortages forced shutdowns.

Israel sent its forces into Hamas-controlled Gaza after weeks of air and artillery strikes in retaliation for a deadly attack by the Islamist group in southern Israel on October 7.

Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas. However, the civilian death toll in Gaza and the desperate humanitarian conditions have raised concern around the world as food, fuel, drinking water and medicine have become scarce.

Waiting at the border

Palestinian dual nationals at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, November 1, 2023. PHOTO: REUTERS

An Egyptian security source had earlier said that up to 500 foreign passport holders would pass through the Rafah crossing on Wednesday. About 200 people were waiting on the Palestinian side of the border, the source said.

A second source said not everyone was expected to make it through Wednesday and there was no timetable for how long the crossing would remain open.

A Western official said a list of people with foreign passports who can leave Gaza had been agreed between Israel and Egypt. An Israeli official confirmed that Israel was coordinating the exits with Egypt.

Egypt has prepared a field hospital in Sheikh Zuwayed, medical sources said. Ambulances were waiting in Rafa.

Also read: Foreigners, wounded prepare to leave Gaza as Israeli offensive intensifies

The first source said the deal was not linked to other issues such as the release of about 240 hostages held by Hamas or a “humanitarian pause” in the fighting that many countries have called for but which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected.

Indonesia said it was trying to get 10 nationals out, but three of them, volunteers at an Indonesian-run hospital, decided to stay. The Philippines, Jordan and Italy also said they hoped to get citizens out on Wednesday.

The October 7 attack by Hamas in southern Israel that sparked the hostilities killed about 300 soldiers and 1,100 civilians, Israel says.

Gaza’s health ministry says at least 8,796 Palestinians, including 3,648 children, have since been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza.

Hitting a refugee camp

Palestinians search for victims at the site of Israeli raids on homes in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, October 31, 2023. PHOTO: REUTERS

On Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike killed about 50 people and wounded 150 in Jabalia, Gaza’s largest refugee camp, Palestinian health officials said.

The Israeli military said the strike killed Ibrahim Biari, a Hamas commander it said was instrumental in organizing the Oct. 7 attack, as well as dozens of Hamas fighters.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief said he was disappointed by the high number of casualties in Jabalia and urged all sides to respect the rules of war.

Josep Borrell said Israel has the right to defend itself, but “the laws of war and humanity must always apply.”

The EU last week called for an end to Israeli bombing and Hamas rocket attacks on humanitarian aid to Gaza through safe corridors.

“Every day that passes, as the situation becomes more dire, this is more urgent than ever,” Borrell said.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli hostages held in Gaza were subject to the same “death and destruction” that Palestinians have faced.

Eleven Israeli soldiers were also killed in fighting on Tuesday, the Israeli military said, the biggest one-day loss since the initial attack.

Netanyahu bemoaned mounting military casualties and warned that the war would be long.

“We are in a tough war,” he said. “I promise all the citizens of Israel: We will get the job done. We will march to victory.”

Cross-border rocket fire by Hamas continued, with warning sirens sounding in communities in southern Israel as well as in the port cities of Ashkelon and Ashdod.

Power outage

This image from AFP television footage shows fire and smoke rising over Gaza City during relentless Israeli raids. PHOTO: AFP

Overnight Israeli ground forces clashed with Hamas militants and other groups in northern, southern and eastern Gaza – part of a series of incursions apparently aimed at incremental gains rather than a full-scale invasion.

Communications and Internet services were disrupted again in Gaza on Wednesday, telecommunications provider Paltel said.

“They don’t want the world to see their crimes against civilians,” said Gaza resident Ahmed Muhey.

Dozens of Palestinians gathered outside the Nasser Hospital mortuary waiting to take the bodies of their relatives for burial.

Inside, corpses lay on the ground and were being prepared to be wrapped in white after being cleaned of dust and blood.

Health officials said they received 15 bodies of Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes in Khan Younis, including four children.

“Every day there are dead and every day there are children or women among them or both,” said a doctor.

Two hospitals – Al Shifa Medical and Indonesian Hospital – experienced power outages as their generators ran out of fuel.

Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Qaila said the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, the only cancer treatment facility in Gaza, is now out of business due to a lack of fuel.

The violence – the worst in years of sporadic warfare – erupted at a time when Palestinian aspirations for an independent state and an end to Israel’s occupation have little prospect of being fulfilled.

Peace talks are now a distant memory and Netanyahu’s right-wing government has expanded Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Israel sees Hamas, which has vowed to destroy the Jewish state, as an existential threat.