The border crossing from Gaza to Egypt has been opened for foreigners. According to Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, Finns have also gotten out.
Justas Stasevskij,
Yrjö Kokkonen
Israel announced today, Wednesday, that it opened the Rafah border crossing on the border between Egypt and Gaza. The first groups of foreign nationals have been allowed to leave war-torn Gaza for Egypt.
Foreign minister Elina Valtonen (co.) tells that six Finns have gotten out of Gaza and they arrived on the Egyptian side in the evening.
The Finnish authorities still had no information during the day when the Finns in Gaza would be able to leave, said the head of the Finnish representation in Ramallah on the West Bank Päivi Peltokoski.
– Here we go one day at a time. The authorities have not issued any long-term crossing list. The purpose is that this is handled over several days or weeks, where certain groups are allowed to cross at certain times each day.
On Wednesday, there was also surprising information about the Finns.
– Today it turned out that there are actually more Finns than we thought. Now there are twelve Finns who want to leave Gaza.
The same number was confirmed by Foreign Minister Valtonen in Oslo, at the Nordic Council meeting.
Consular Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Jussi Tannerin according to a significant proportion of Finns are small children.
Coming to the border and crossing the border is risky
Peltokoski cannot tell why some Finns have contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs only now.
According to Peltokoski, the Finns have been in real situations, but they are fine.
– They have said that they were under bombardment and rocket attacks. There have been rocket attacks everywhere. I can’t tell you how many “near misses” there have been.
Peltokoski says that leaving Gaza is far from easy, let alone safe.
– There are no safe routes or humanitarian corridors in Gaza. Those people who have permission to cross the border, not all have managed to get to the south.
In addition, the exit is made difficult by the lack of fuel. It’s hard to find a car in the area that still has gas. However, the biggest obstacle to crossing the border is security.
Finns cannot leave without first contacting the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. So you can’t just go to the Egyptian border with a Finnish passport in your hand.
As a condition of evacuation, foreigners travel directly to their home countries
The evacuation is organized together with the Egyptian and Israeli authorities. Both countries are given a list of names to approve before crossing the border. Peltokoski says that all Finnish people have been accepted.
– It would be really desirable if the Finns in Gaza would contact us, says Peltokoski.
The evacuation process is of a special quality because the Sinai Peninsula is a military area and crossing the area requires a special permit. Finns and other foreigners are met at the border by foreign ministry cars or buses. The trip takes you directly to the airport.
– Egypt has made evacuation a condition that everyone be taken directly to Cairo airport. Foreigners leave directly for their home countries, says Peltokoski.
Added information about Finnish children on 1.11. at 17:42
Updated 1.11. at 9:17 p.m. Finns have crossed the border.