Warsaw (Reuters) – The evacuation of Polish citizens from Gaza started on Sunday via the border crossing in Rafah, the head of Poland’s National Bureau of Security Jacek Siewiera said.
“The first Polish citizens staying in the Gaza Strip crossed the border crossing in Rafah and are on the Egyptian side. The process has begun,” Siewiera said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
“Air Force as ordered by Polish president are ready to carry out transport.”
Siewiera later told Reuters in a phone interview the Rafah crossing was opened on Sunday morning, enabling the departure of 18 Polish citizens, including minors.
He said that he hoped that at least several more Polish citizens would be able to cross later in the day, and after that the group would be transported to a hotel in Cairo to wait for a military aircraft to fly them to Poland.
The breakthrough in efforts to evacuate Poles was due to the role played by Qatar and Israel, and the involvement of Egypt which controls the crossing, Siewiera added. Evacuations from the Gaza Strip into Egypt for foreign passport holders and for Palestinians needing medical treatment had been suspended on Friday. Limited evacuations began on Nov. 1 and were paused twice in the past week due to bombardments.
