Israel-Hamas war: UK-based academic unable to leave Gaza as dozens of wounded and foreign nationals cross border
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A UK-based academic and her five children have been unable to leave Gaza for Egypt as the first group of injured evacuees have moved over the Rafah border.
Dr Emilee Rauschenberger told Sky News that her family came to the border as they got notice from the UK’s Foreign Office that the crossing might be opening.
She said the family wanted to travel back to Manchester, having travelled to Gaza to visit her husband’s family three weeks ago.
Follow live: Israel-Gaza latest updates
“We want to leave Gaza and go back to Britain,” she said. “A few days after the war started we had to leave our homes and move to Khan Younis. We have been displaced the whole time.”
A total of 76 wounded people and their companions left Gaza in ambulances today.
Around six buses carrying 335 foreign passport-holding passengers also departed the strip into Egypt.
In other developments:
• The UK’s foreign secretary says teams are ready to assist British nationals in Gaza as soon as they are able to leave;
• The Israel Defence Forces says 16 of its troops have been killed in Gaza since Tuesday;
• Hamas claims seven hostages have been killed during a strike on a refugee camp in Gaza;
• Around 51 trucks carrying aid have arrived in Gaza.
‘Lots of bombing’ and daily struggles for food
Dr Rauschenberger has worked for the education organisation, the Queen Rania Foundation, in Jordan for two years.
She said her family, including her five children – aged 14, 12, 10-year-old twins and a four-year-old – have had no electricity and no sanitary drinking water while in Gaza.
No humanitarian aid was delivered to the area they were in, and they had to go out daily to find food, she said.
“At night there is lots of bombing, especially in the last week. It’s very difficult. I am just waiting with my five kids and my husband to go,” she said.
In an update to Britons in Gaza, the Foreign Office said in a text: “Once we receive confirmation that you are permitted to cross the Rafah border, we will send a message to ask you to travel to the crossing.
“Crossings are expected to take place across a number of days.”
It said it has given a full list of names of British Nationals and dependants in Gaza to Israeli and Egyptian authorities.
The Palestinian General Authority for Crossing and Borders confirmed that the Rafah border will be open again tomorrow to allow foreign passport holders out of Gaza.
But the authority added travel will only be open to those whose names are on an agreed list.
‘Be ready to go’
Meanwhile, Dr Abdel Hammad, a surgeon at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, said he was told “be ready to go” by the Foreign Office as he waits to cross the border into Egypt.
He arrived in Gaza on 6 October, a day before the attack on Israel by Hamas.
Dr Hammad told Sky News that he is still about 5km from the Rafah crossing, and is waiting to be allowed through.
Dr Abdel Hammad
President Joe Biden said American citizens are expected to be among the first group of foreigners able to leave Gaza for Egypt via the Rafah crossing today.
“We expect American citizens to exit today, and we expect to see more depart over the coming days,” he wrote on social media platform, X.
A deal, mediated by Qatar, was struck between Egypt, Israel, and Hamas, to open the crossing to foreign and dual nationals currently trapped in Gaza.
Read more:
What is the Rafah border crossing and who controls it?
How far has Israel got into Gaza?
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Crowds enter Rafah crossing from Gaza
Palestinians cross to the Egyptian side of the border. Pic: AP
Still uncertainty for Britons hoping to get out
Despite the crossing from Gaza into Egypt opening at last, Britons and British residents like Dr Rauschenberger are still uncertain if they will be allowed to leave.
A spokesperson for Scotland’s first minister, whose wife’s parents are currently in Gaza, said it was their understanding that British nationals were “not at present” included on the list of those being able to leave.
However, some of the injured people within the enclave have been taken for treatment.
Earlier, a convoy of Egyptian ambulances were seen waiting to go through the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side
Footage broadcast on Egyptian state TV – and seen by Sky News – shows injured people being transported in ambulances across the border from the Gaza Strip.
Egypt’s health ministry said a field hospital has been set up in an Egyptian town near the crossing.
The Italian foreign minister also confirmed four Italian citizens, one of whom was accompanied by his Palestinian wife, were also among those who have already left Gaza.
Earlier, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said there were “no certainties” around the exit of British nationals from Gaza.
He said: “Everything is difficult and uncertain and we need to be realistic about that.”
“We’ve spoken extensively with Egypt and of course with Israel and through intermediaries [and] we have sent messages to Hamas,” he added.
“It’s not easy and there are no certainties, but we will not rest until we have done what we can to help the British nationals in Gaza.”
Rafah is Gaza’s only gateway to the rest of the world not directly controlled by Israel.
It is under the control of Egypt as part of an agreement with Israel and the European Union.
However, it has never been a normal, fully open border crossing and is tightly controlled by authorities in Cairo.
