Over 500 Swedes want to leave Gaza.
Over 500 Swedes remain in Gaza.
At the same time, citizens of many other nations have managed to get out of the heavily war-torn area.
– I don’t have a good answer as to why this is so. We have contact through diplomatic channels at various levels and try to push to get the Swedish citizens out, says Svante Liljegren, head of the consular unit at the Foreign Ministry.
After being closed over the weekend, the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt was opened to foreign nationals on Monday.
From the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it has previously been communicated that they expect to find a way out for Swedish citizens shortly.
But still no Swedes have crossed the border – despite foreign citizens from other nations having succeeded in doing so, including a handful from the Nordic neighbor Finland.
– I can confirm that the border is open. There is a flow and we therefore have a hope that a large proportion of Swedes will come to North Sinai soon, says Svante Liljegren.
Advice: Be careful – keep an eye out for contact attempts
At home, there are scores of worried relatives who are nervously waiting to be informed that their relatives are outside the war zone.
The situation is difficult to manage in several ways. The Foreign Ministry has concerns about getting in touch with the Swedes in Gaza because the telecommunications network is mostly down and it is impossible to get into the area to provide the support they could otherwise provide.
– We speak to relatives daily, but we find it difficult to inform them. The advice to everyone who is in Gaza is to be careful and keep an eye out for our contact attempts when we see that it is time for Sweden, says Svante Liljegren.
“It’s not just Sweden that has it like this”
When the Swedes will be able to leave Gaza is currently difficult to answer, according to Liljevall – who assures that the Foreign Ministry is doing its utmost.
– We do not own the border crossing, other authorities do and we can hardly influence that. We have talks with colleagues and the host countries, Israel and Egypt, and are doing what we can to get them out. It is not only Sweden that is like this, he says.