Arab News published this article:

Scores of foreign passport holders trapped in Gaza started leaving the war-torn territory on Wednesday as the Rafah crossing to Egypt opened for the first time since the October 7 Hamas attacks, AFP correspondents reported.

Convoys of desperately needed aid have passed between Egypt and Gaza but no people have been allowed to cross. Some 400 foreigners and dual nationals along with some 90 sick and wounded were expected to leave on Wednesday.

Qatar earlier mediated an agreement between Egypt, Israel and Hamas, in coordination with the US, to allow for the movement of foreign passport holders and some critically injured people out of besieged Gaza, a source briefed on deal told Reuters on Wednesday.

The agreement would allow the movement of foreign passport holders and some critically injured people through the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza, though there is no timeline for how long the Rafah crossing will remain open for evacuation, the source added.

An Egyptian security source had said earlier that up to 500 foreign passport holders will pass the Rafah border crossing on Wednesday. About 200 people were waiting at the Palestinian side of the border on Wednesday morning, the source said.

A second source said not all were expected to make it out on Wednesday. There was no timeline for how long the crossing will remain open for evacuation, they added.

Two Filipino doctors with medical aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) are among the first group of foreigners selected to leave Gaza and cross into Egypt, a Philippine foreign ministry official said on Wednesday.

“The crossing should happen anytime now,” undersecretary Eduardo De Vega said.

A Western official said a list of people with foreign passports who can leave Gaza had been agreed between Israel and Egypt and relevant embassies have been informed. An Israeli official who requested anonymity confirmed that Israel was coordinating the exits with Egypt.

Egypt has prepared a field hospital in Sheikh Zuwayed in the Sinai, medical sources said. 

The first ambulances carrying wounded Palestinians from war-torn Gaza entered Egypt via the Rafah crossing on Wednesday, an Egyptian official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Live footage shown on television stations showed Egyptian nurses and first-aiders examining wounded Palestinians then carrying them on stretchers to Egyptian ambulances.

At least one child was visible in one of the ambulances, with officials saying around 90 of the most seriously wounded would be allowed to cross for treatment in Egyptian hospitals.

The agreement is not linked to other issues under negotiation such as the hostages held by Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that governs Gaza, or pauses designed to ease a humanitarian crisis in the enclave which is suffering from food, water, fuel and medical shortages, said the source.

Israel sent its forces into Gaza following weeks of air bombardments in retaliation for a major attack by Iran-backed Hamas on Oct 7.

Hamas has told mediators it will soon release some of the 200 or so foreign captives it had taken during the attack on Israel, Abu Ubaida, the spokesperson of the group’s armed wing, Al-Qassam Brigades, said in a video on the Telegram app on Tuesday. He gave no further details on the number of captives or their nationalities.

The Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 killed about 300 soldiers and some 1,100 civilians, Israeli figures say.

At least 8,525 Palestinians, including 3,542 children, were killed in retaliatory Israeli strikes on Gaza since Oct.7, the Gaza health ministry says.