Hamas Govt Suspends Evacuation of Foreigners to Egypt

Rafah, the border crossing into Gaza that Egypt had promised to open on Friday, is the only crossing into the blockaded Palestinian territory that is not controlled by Israel. MOHAMMED ABED / AFP
Rafah, the border crossing into Gaza that Egypt had promised to open on Friday, is the only crossing into the blockaded Palestinian territory that is not controlled by Israel. MOHAMMED ABED / AFP
TT

Hamas Govt Suspends Evacuation of Foreigners to Egypt

Rafah, the border crossing into Gaza that Egypt had promised to open on Friday, is the only crossing into the blockaded Palestinian territory that is not controlled by Israel. MOHAMMED ABED / AFP
Rafah, the border crossing into Gaza that Egypt had promised to open on Friday, is the only crossing into the blockaded Palestinian territory that is not controlled by Israel. MOHAMMED ABED / AFP

Gaza's Hamas government suspended the evacuation of foreign passport holders to Egypt Saturday after Israel refused to allow some wounded Palestinians to be evacuated to Egyptian hospitals, a border official said.

"No foreign passport holder will be able to leave the Gaza Strip until wounded people who need to be evacuated from hospitals in north Gaza are transported through the Rafah crossing" to Egypt, the official said on condition of anonymity.

An Egyptian security source confirmed to AFP that "no wounded person or holder of a foreign passport arrived at the Egyptian terminal" of Rafah on Saturday.

He said the evacuation was suspended "after the bombing of ambulances transporting injured people who were on their way to the Egyptian terminal".

On Friday, the Israeli army announced it had struck an ambulance outside Al-Shifa hospital, Gaza's largest, saying it was "used by a Hamas terrorist cell".

At least 15 people were killed and 60 wounded in the strike, according to the health ministry in Gaza.

Israel launched a war against Hamas in Gaza following the October 7 attacks which claimed 1,400 lives -- mostly civilians -- according to Israel.

The Hamas-run health ministry says air, land and sea attacks on Gaza have killed nearly 9,500 Palestinians.



UN Human Rights Chief Decries Israeli Bombing in Northern Gaza

Displaced Palestinian man Khalil Al-Shannar walks past the rubble carrying bags of bread, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, October 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinian man Khalil Al-Shannar walks past the rubble carrying bags of bread, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, October 24, 2024. (Reuters)
TT

UN Human Rights Chief Decries Israeli Bombing in Northern Gaza

Displaced Palestinian man Khalil Al-Shannar walks past the rubble carrying bags of bread, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, October 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinian man Khalil Al-Shannar walks past the rubble carrying bags of bread, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, October 24, 2024. (Reuters)

The United Nations’ human rights chief says the Israeli government’s actions in northern Gaza “risk emptying the area of all Palestinians” and argues that “we are facing what could amount to atrocity crimes.”

Volker Türk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, decried “nonstop” bombing in northern Gaza in a statement Friday and said that “the Israeli military has ordered hundreds of thousands to move, with no guarantees of return. But there is no safe way to leave.”

Israel has been carrying out a major offensive in northern Gaza for more than two weeks. Hundreds of people have been killed and tens of thousands have fled their homes. The military says it is battling Hamas fighters who regrouped in the north, one of the first targets of the ground offensive at the start of the war.

Türk said that “the Israeli government’s policies and practices in northern Gaza risk emptying the area of all Palestinians. We are facing what could amount to atrocity crimes, including potentially extending to crimes against humanity.”

He said Palestinian armed groups also reportedly continue to operate amongst civilians and put them in harm’s way.

Türk called on world leaders to act, pointing to a duty under the Geneva Conventions to ensure respect for international humanitarian law.