More civilians permitted to cross into Egypt from Gaza, including 400 Americans

Hundreds more civilians were permitted to cross into Egypt from Gaza on Thursday, including 400 Americans, after a group of injured Palestinians and foreign passport holders were allowed to leave Wednesday.

The Gaza border authority released a list of foreign nationals Thursday, which included 400 Americans, who are permitted to leave Gaza using the Rafah border crossing, The New York Times and The Washington Post reported. The list of 600 foreign passport holders also included civilians from 14 other countries, including Mexico, South Korea, Azerbaijan and Italy.

This is the second batch of civilians who are being permitted to leave Gaza since the war started Oct. 7, when a Hamas massacre on Israeli border communities killed some 1,400 people. On Wednesday, officials said 110 foreign passport holders crossed into Egypt, along with 80 Palestinians in need of medical emergency medical treatment.

The White House confirmed Wednesday that some Americans were also among those permitted to leave Gaza in that first group. 

“The United States has been able to secure safe passage for wounded Palestinians and foreign nationals, including Americans, to depart Gaza through the Rafah crossing,” John Kirby, a White House national security spokesperson, told reporters Wednesday.

Gaza’s population of nearly 2.3 million has been trapped in Gaza since Hamas launched its surprise attack on Israel. Israel’s military has bombarded the coastal enclave with air strikes in the weeks since, killing about 9,000 civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Israel also began its ground offensive into Gaza over the weekend, raising fears of heavy fighting and a rising civilian death toll in the weeks ahead.

The U.S. has said Hamas is to blame for not letting civilians out of Gaza, saying that the group’s goal was to use them as “human shields.” The United Nations and other groups working in Gaza are expressing increasing alarm over conditions in the territory, where limited access to medical supplies, fuel and water is creating a mounting humanitarian crisis.