President Joe Biden said Americans should be able to leave Gaza on Wednesday for the first time since the war broke out.
Palestinians in Gaza have been trapped within the territory for weeks after Israel shut down those border crossings, as had Egypt, though the Egyptians opened the Rafah Crossing on Wednesday.
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"Today, thanks to American leadership, we secured safe passage for wounded Palestinians and for foreign nationals to exit Gaza," the president said. "We expect American citizens to exit today, and we expect to see more depart over the coming days. We won't let up working to get Americans out of Gaza."
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday the State Department was tracking 400 American citizens in Gaza and including their families, roughly 1,000 people who want to leave Gaza.
Injured Palestinians have been among the first group of people who were allowed to cross the border into Egypt.
U.S. officials have accused Hamas of preventing people from leaving.
"[Hamas is] putting obstacles up to allow us to get folks out," National Security Council coordinator John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday. "It's not Israel. It's not Egypt. It's not places like Jordan. Hamas has been making it difficult to do this."
Similarly, Blinken told members of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, "I'm focused on this intensely. My entire department is as well, both in the region and here. We're working with various parties to try to facilitate their departure from Gaza. The impediment is simple: It's Hamas."
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He also said there are about 5,000 other third-country nationals who want to leave Gaza.
Among the first to depart on Wednesday were small groups of Italian and French citizens. Four Italian nationals and five French citizens have left Gaza through the Rafah crossing, according to Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and the French foreign ministry.