US evacuates 17 US citizen doctors from Gaza, officials say

The United States on Friday evacuated out of Gaza 17 American doctors who had been stuck since an Israeli takeover of the Rafah Crossing closed the border with Egypt, official sources say.

US diplomats arranged for the 17 doctors to leave through the Kerem Shalom Crossing into Israel.

“Some of the US citizen doctors who had been stuck in Gaza have now safely departed and made their way to safety with assistance from the US embassy in Jerusalem,” a State Department spokesperson says.

“We have been in close contact with the groups that these US doctors are part of, and we have been in contact with the families of these US citizens,” he says.

A source familiar with the operation said that three other US citizen doctors who were part of the volunteer medical mission chose to stay despite the uncertainty on when they will again have a chance to leave.