About 1,700 Gazans have left the Strip through Israel since the ceasefire began
Sources familiar with the matter told Kan News that since the ceasefire went into effect in October, more than 1,700 Gazans have left the Gaza Strip through Israel – as reported this Wednesday on the “Afternoon Journal” on Kan Reshet Bet.
About 700 of the Gazans left in the past month. All Gazans who have left since the end of the war did so through Israel: they exited via the Kerem Shalom crossing and from there flew out through Ramon Airport or traveled through the Allenby Bridge crossing.
The residents who were able to do so were Gazans with medical conditions requiring treatment abroad, or those holding residency permits in a foreign country willing to admit them (usually in exchange for money paid through an NGO). All Gazan residents who left through Israel underwent security screening on the Israeli side and received authorization to exit.
Meanwhile, today Israel announced that for the first time since the agreement was signed two months ago, the Rafah crossing will open for Gazan residents to exit into Egypt. Until now Rafah had been closed to Palestinians, and exit was permitted only for foreign nationals or the wounded and ill. The goods crossing remains closed for now. European Union monitors, together with Palestinians from the West Bank who will operate without a Palestinian Authority insignia, are expected to run the crossing.
The number of Gazans who have left the Strip since the beginning of the war stands at 41,000, many of them businesspeople, well-connected individuals, people of means or with personal connections, or even dual citizens. In addition, many Hamas leaders and their families also left Gaza during the war.
Anastasia Stukanov is a KAN 11 News correspondent.
You might also like to read this:
