Foreign citizens not being allowed to leave Gaza despite opening of Egypt border

Palestinian Americans and other dual citizens rushed to southern Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt as 20 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid entered the besieged strip earlier today as the border opened for the first time since the start of the war.

It was not immediately clear if the Hamas authorities in Gaza or Egypt were preventing them from leaving.

Embassies had asked their citizens in Gaza to stand ready at the border, but crowds of disappointed Palestinians holding American, Canadian, German and British passports waited hours in vain for at least the fifth time this week.

“There is no opening of the crossing, and the suffering is the same,” said US citizen Dina al- Khatib. “They communicate with us, but there is no change.”

Al-Khatib said she and her family were desperate to get out.

“It’s is not like previous wars,” she said. “There is no electricity, no water, no internet, nothing.”