The evacuation of foreign citizens and dual nationals from the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing continues for the second day in a row, as Arab and Western countries announced the evacuation of dozens of their citizens on Tuesday.
An Egyptian security source said that at least 320 foreign nationals and their families, as well as 100 Egyptian citizens, entered Egypt today through the Rafah crossing, the only border crossing not controlled by Israel.
The State Department spokesman said the United States had helped evacuate more than 400 U.S. citizens and permanent residents from Gaza.
The French Foreign Ministry also announced today that more than 100 French people managed to exit the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing.
The French Foreign Ministry said in a statement, "Two groups of French citizens, agents and rights holders were able to leave the Gaza Strip on Monday and Tuesday, and they are safe in Egypt."
That brings the total number of people France has arranged to leave to more than 100, she said.
Dozens of Jordanians evacuated
For its part, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry reported the evacuation of 262 Jordanians today out of 569 stranded in Gaza since the outbreak of the war, noting that 53 of them returned to Jordan.
The Jordanian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it is following up with its embassy in Cairo on the situation of Jordanian citizens in the Gaza Strip, and intensifying efforts to evacuate them as soon as possible.
She said that a delegation from the Jordanian embassy in Cairo is still stationed on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, to coordinate the entry of Jordanian citizens from the Gaza Strip into Egypt.
In the same context, Reuters quoted a medical source as saying that only 4 wounded people from Gaza were allowed to pass through the Rafah crossing today for treatment in Egyptian hospitals.
The crossing opened last week on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays to allow the evacuation of dozens of injured Palestinians and hundreds of foreign passport holders, before it was closed on Saturday and Sunday due to a dispute over ambulance crossing, and then reopened on Monday.
A new group of wounded and holders of foreign passports arrived on Monday from Gaza at the crossing, an official on the Egyptian side of the crossing confirmed.
"Six ambulances have arrived transporting the wounded to the Egyptian side, and they are now signing a (medical) examination inside the crossing in order to take them to hospitals," the official said.
Government sources in Gaza said the reopening of the crossing was mediated by Egypt and with Israeli approval.