A group of 31 Austrians were brought to safety via the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip in Egypt on Wednesday afternoon. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced this in a broadcast this evening.
In the late afternoon they managed to get the first group out of the Gaza Strip. “We are very relieved,” they said. Austria is one of the first countries whose citizens were able to leave the country.
Also children among them
These are mainly people with dual nationality who live in Gaza or were visiting family, including ten minors. The youngest is a six-year-old girl, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Among the evacuees were an employee of the Austrian representative office in Ramallah with his family and two Austrian doctors working for an international organization in Gaza. “All evacuees are doing well given the circumstances, they are physically fine.”
‘Diplomatic channels overheated’
“In recent weeks, diplomatic channels have been active to encourage partners in the region to open the Rafah border crossing,” said Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP). He would like to thank “the Egyptian and Israeli partners for making the departure possible,” as well as his employees in Ramallah, Tel Aviv and Cairo.
There are still a handful of Austrians and their relatives who want to leave the country. “We will continue to do everything we can to enable them to leave the country quickly and, above all, safely,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasizes.
Source: Krone
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