Spain will evacuate up to 178 Spaniards from the Gaza Strip between this Thursday and Friday
Almost a month after Israel declared open war on Hamas – in response to the attacks that killed 1,400 Israelis – the first Spaniards begin to leave the besieged Gaza Strip.. The enclave's border has remained closed by both the Jewish State and Egypt, while the bombing of Tel Aviv intensified, claiming the lives of more than 9,000 Palestinians.. Since then, the Spanish government has tried to evacuate its nationals, from NGO workers to citizens with dual nationality.. This Wednesday the first Spaniard left the Strip, an anesthetist from Doctors Without Borders, and the authorities assured that he would not be the only one.
Spain, in collaboration with Egypt, has announced that during Thursday and Friday it will evacuate around 140 citizens with Spanish nationality, a number that will reach 178 people when adding their family members. “Everything is ready there to go look for the Spaniards between today or tomorrow,” said the acting Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles.. The minister has acknowledged that a team is ready in Cairo and that in Spain the Armed Forces are also prepared in case it is necessary to carry out an air evacuation.. The minister has also pointed out that some Spaniards have already been able to leave Gaza by other means, as is the case with the Valencian healthcare provider Doctors Without Borders.
The evacuation of Spaniards occurs on the second consecutive day in which the gates of the Rafah crossing are opened for the exit of civilians. This Thursday at least four buses with between fifty and seventy Palestinians with foreign passports and citizens of other countries left the Strip. The spokesman for the Hamas Government Media Office, Salama Maruf, announced that some 60 wounded and 400 Palestinians with foreign passports and citizens of other countries (of 16 nationalities) would leave throughout the day.
These evacuees join the 76 injured and 335 Palestinians who left on Wednesday. The largest group of civilians who have left Gaza are Americans and Palestinians with US passports, numbering a total of 400; They are followed by Belgians and Dutch. The list also includes two Mexican women, as well as South Koreans, Greeks, Croatians, Hungarians and Swiss, among other nationalities.. They are joined by UN personnel with Italian passports.
Israeli Army surrounds Gaza City
While the south of the Strip focuses on the evacuation of civilians, in the north of the Palestinian enclave the conflict continues to intensify. The Israeli Army has surrounded the Palestinian city of Gaza, attacking the main city of the Strip and deepening its ground offensive, according to the Chief of the General Staff, Herzi Halevi. “We have advanced towards another important stage in the war. “The forces are in the heart of northern Gaza, operating in Gaza City, surrounding it,” Halevi said in a statement to the press.
“The forces are fighting in a dense and complex urban area, which requires professional combat and courage,” added the military command, who detailed that “the ground forces are accompanied by precise intelligence, with fire from the air and the sea”. Halevi has also highlighted the “painful and difficult price” of the fighting in Gaza, which has so far left 18 Israeli soldiers dead, one of them a lieutenant colonel who died this Thursday, according to the latest data released by the Army.
Asked about the fuel shortage in Gaza and the consequent closure of hospitals due to the tightening of the Israeli blockade, the chief of the General Staff has dismissed the warnings from the Gazan authorities about the collapse of the health system, although he has acknowledged that Israel plans to authorize entry of fuel once it runs out.
Israel has confirmed that its troops maintain strong clashes with militants of the Islamist group by land, sea and air. Gaza residents themselves have acknowledged that Israeli troops are carrying out raids and localized attacks. The Israeli Army spokesman reported that this Thursday its troops killed more than 130 Hamas members.
Meanwhile, the UN continues to insist that time is running out to avoid what they have defined as “a genocide and a catastrophe in Gaza.”. Seven United Nations special rapporteurs, including the UN rapporteur for Palestine, Francesca Albanese, have claimed to be “frustrated” and have insisted that “Israel's allies also have responsibility and must act to prevent this disastrous development of events.” “.