Hope that the possibility of leaving the country will remain for a few days
According to a spokesman, the German Foreign Ministry has informed German citizens in the Gaza Strip about a possible exit via the Rafah border crossing. It is hoped that this possibility will exist for a few days because there are several thousand foreigners in the Gaza Strip, he added. The Foreign Ministry sent a consular team to the border crossing in Egypt. The people would first be taken to Cairo.
Scholz spoke to Netanyahu on the phone
On Wednesday evening, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) welcomed the fact that for the first time injured people had been brought to Egypt for treatment via the Rafah border crossing. He had previously spoken again by telephone with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said that Netanyahu had informed the Chancellor “about the current situation in Israel following the terrorist attacks by Hamas and about the Israeli army’s further actions against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.”
Scholz once again assured Israel of “unwavering solidarity” and underlined “the importance of protecting civilians and providing humanitarian care to the population in the Gaza Strip.” Both heads of government “agreed” to “work together to prevent the conflict from spreading.”
Egyptian ambulances were ready
Television images showed dozens of people and vehicles leaving the recently sealed off coastal strip at the Rafah crossing. Most recently, the strictly controlled Rafah border crossing was only used for the delivery of aid supplies. According to eyewitnesses and the Red Crescent, citizens of Canada, Austria, Finland, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Japan, Australia and Indonesia initially came to Egypt.
Ambulances carrying injured Palestinians also left the Rafah border crossing and took the patients to the hospital in the town of Al-Arish, as shown in images from the state-affiliated television channel Al-Kahira News. Egypt insisted that they come into the country before the approximately 500 foreigners and people with dual citizenship who were eligible to leave.
Egypt has set up a field hospital in Sheikh Suweid, about 15 kilometers from Rafah. In addition, the most serious cases are to be taken to hospitals in the Sinai region and as far as Ismailia. The head of Nasser Hospital in the Gaza Strip, Nahed Abu Taeema, told Reuters that among the first group of 81 injured, 19 were in critical condition. “They need more sophisticated operations that cannot be done here because of a lack of capacity,” he said. This applies particularly to women and children.