The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirms that 80 Swedes have received permission to evacuate from Gaza on Monday.
Over 500 Swedish citizens or people with a Swedish residence permit have contacted the Foreign Ministry and asked for help to leave Gaza – the Foreign Ministry is now contacting the 80 people who have received permission to leave.
“The Foreign Ministry has received confirmed information that a first group of 80 Swedes has now been given permission to leave Gaza on Monday. The Foreign Ministry is now contacting these people via SMS, e-mail and phone to ensure that they are reached by this information”; writes the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in an email, and continues:
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs urges Swedes in Gaza not to go to the Rafah border until you have received notification from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that you have received permission from the local authorities to cross the border”.
Over 500 Swedish citizens or persons with a Swedish residence permit have contacted the Foreign Ministry and asked for help to leave Gaza.
Two Danes out
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen was in the Middle East on Sunday.
There he was able to confirm for DR that two Danish citizens managed to get out of Gaza via Rafah and are now in Cairo.
– The Red Cross is ready with psychological help and shortly the two will be flown home, he tells the media company.
On Friday, the Danish Foreign Ministry stated that five citizens were on a list of people who would be allowed to leave Gaza, among them a nine-month-old child. The child is not one of the people who were able to leave Gaza.
No Norwegians
On Sunday, Lars Løkke Rasmussen met his Israeli colleague Eli Cohen, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh and the UN’s special envoy to the Middle East, the Norwegian Tor Wennesland.
The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs tells the NTB news agency that none of the approximately 250 Norwegians who are in Gaza are on the list of people who have been granted permission to cross the border.
– There are major delays in the work to get foreign citizens out of Gaza, says Tove Bogsnes, head of communications at the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, to NTB.