Over the past day and night, Ukraine has evacuated 160 more of its citizens and nine citizens of Moldova from Gaza, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media
A total of 203 Ukrainians have been rescued from there in a week, and some 36 citizens of Moldova earlier this week.
Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevhen Korniychuk told Radio Liberty that mostly women and children were evacuated. According to him, there are people who were refused to leave by local law enforcement in Israel and Egypt because of their alleged involvement with Hamas.
“We don’t argue much with local law enforcement agencies about who and why, but it is clear that these are people who are affiliated with Hamas. These are Ukrainian citizens with Ukrainian passports, but Palestinians by birth, who have lived in Gaza permanently and who most likely have some connection to Hamas,” he added.
On 1 November, Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs began preparations for the evacuation of Ukrainians from the Gaza Strip after the Egyptian authorities allowed foreigners to leave through the Rafah checkpoint, according to the spokesperson of Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Ministry Oleh Nikolenko. There were some 358 Ukrainian citizens who had requested to be evacuated from the embattled Gaza Strip, mostly women and children.
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