Palestinian dual nationals await Gaza border opening

By AFP 20 October 2023, 5:41 pm

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This picture taken on October 19, 2023 shows the closed gate to the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, in the southern Gaza Strip. (Mohammed Abed/AFP)

Dozens of Palestinians clutching foreign passports have gathered at Gaza’s border with Egypt, the only crossing which can possibly open as Israel bombards the tiny territory.

The crowds are waiting at the cafeteria of the Rafah border crossing, which has been hit multiple times since Israel began an intense bombardment of the enclave following the deadly Hamas attacks of October 7.

“They told us at the embassy to head to the crossing. We sleep here despite the danger,” say 29-year-old Mahmud Salah Ibrahim Abu Musallam, who has Swedish citizenship and urged European embassies “to help us get out of here.”

Waiting at the crossing with her father Abu Musallam, seven-year-old Ghazal said she wanted to go to Sweden “because all the children die here.”