At least 70 Russian citizens have been evacuated from Gaza to Egypt via the Rafah Border Crossing, which remains the only way out of the besieged Palestinian enclave, Russia’s Emergencies Ministry has announced.
The ministry said in a statement on Telegram on Sunday that its staff have been providing medical and psychological assistance to people as they cross to the Egyptian side. The evacuees are also offered food and water.
“Over the course of the week, the task force of the Emergencies Ministry worked to coordinate the procedure and routes for the evacuation of Russian citizens, who found themselves in the area of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” the ministry said.
All Russian passport holders will be driven from the border to the Egyptian capital, Cairo, where the operational headquarters of the Emergencies Ministry has been set up, the statement read. There, they will be assisted to prepare all the necessary papers to depart for Russia or other destinations, it added.
Videos posted by the ministry show people in tears after finally getting out safely. The evacuees spoke about the hardships they faced as they spent more than a month under the Israeli blockade in Gaza, which has been relentlessly bombarded by the Israel Defense Forces, while water, electricity, and internet access have been cut off. Some said that their children became sick due to the poor-quality water that was available.
More than 11,000 people have been killed and many more wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since the start of the current escalation, according to the Health Ministry in the Palestinian enclave.
The Rafah Crossing was shut down shortly after the deadly attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7. It reopened last week, but only foreigners and Palestinians in need of urgent medical assistance are allowed to cross into Egypt.