Ambulances plus Egypt for emergency medical care, take residents to Gaza Hundreds of foreign port holders are also set to leave the territory, wracked by three weeks of war with Israel.
The health village of Hamas, the first group of people to come from warring leaders, is a fleeting glimpse of other humanitarian hope, with 8,796 people under control of Israeli bombs.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to "continue until victory" against Hamas, whose brutal Oct. 7 attack sparked the latest clashes, the deadliest in decades of unrest between the two sides. AFP reporters watched as a phalanx of 40 white ambulances streamed through the Rafah border crossing, as crowds of foreign and dual-national families gathered nearby, hoping to put the disastrous situation in Gaza behind them.
At least two children were seen in ambulances, one with a large bandage wrapped around his stomach, as doctors examined the injured and transferred them to stretchers. Saleh Hussein, a Jordanian national, said he received word at midnight that he was on the evacuation list.
"We faced many problems in Gaza, the least of which were water shortages and power outages. There were big problems like bombings. We were scared. Many families were martyred," he told AFP.
AFP TV images showed entire families struggling to carry their worldly possessions, rushing through heavily guarded crossings to Egypt, where at least 400 foreign passport holders and 90 of the worst injured and sick were expected to be admitted.
"This is enough. We have suffered enough insults," said Rafiq al-Hilu, a Gaza resident with relatives with children aged one and four. "We do not have the most basic human needs. No internet, no phone, no means of communication, not even water. For the last four days we have not been able to feed this child even a piece of bread. What are you waiting for?
Israel has hit Gaza relentlessly in retaliation for the worst attack in the country's history, when Hamas gunmen crossed the border and killed 1,400 people, according to Israeli officials. AFP reporters saw more tanks pouring over the border into northern Gaza, as Israel intensified a ground offensive launched late last week.
Images provided by the military show soldiers searching through bombed-out houses for 240 hostages held by militants or Hamas.
Israel said 11 soldiers were killed in ground fighting in Gaza on Tuesday, bringing the death toll to 326 since October 7.
An earthquake
The opening of the temporary border with Egypt offered the first glimmer of hope in Gaza's raging humanitarian crisis that the UN and other aid agencies described as "unprecedented". At least 47 people were killed Tuesday in an attack on Gaza's largest refugee camp -- according to Israel, including a Hamas commander involved in the Oct. 7 attack.
Terrified resident Ragheb Akal, 41, likened the explosion to an "earthquake" and described seeing "houses and body parts buried under the rubble and a large number of martyrs and injured". Israel said its warplanes struck a "huge" tunnel complex at the site and killed "several Hamas terrorists," including local battalion commander Ibrahim Biari.
But the strike drew a chorus of condemnation from as far away as Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bolivia, which severed diplomatic ties in protest -- a decision Israel branded a "capitulation to terrorism". Hamas said seven hostages, including three foreign passport holders, died in the bombing, a claim impossible to verify.
No hope in Gaza
According to aid groups, the situation in Gaza has become desperate, with food, fuel and medicine lacking for 2.4 million residents. Palestinian residents told AFP they had withdrawn from northern Gaza, as Israel demanded, but were still under threat.
"We were told people from Gaza City were moving across the valley to the central area of the Strip, so we headed there. After 20 days, we were bombarded. Three of our children lost their lives and we were all injured." Amen al-Aqlouk told AFP. "There is no hope in the Gaza Strip. It is no longer safe. If the borders are opened, everyone will leave and emigrate. We face death every day, 24 hours a day."
Israeli officials said 70 aid trucks entered Gaza from Egypt on Tuesday, one of the largest daily flows so far, but far fewer than humanitarian groups need. Fearing that supplies entering Gaza could be diverted to Hamas or that aid shipments could hide weapons, Israeli security officials imposed strict inspections that slowed the flow of aid.
'We have no more tears'
With fears the violence could turn into a regional war, US President Joe Biden called for "emergency measures" to defuse tensions and said top diplomat Anthony Blinken would begin another trip to the Middle East on Friday.
Turkey and Iran have called for a regional conference as they face daily airstrikes from Hamas and other Iran-backed groups around the Middle East, including Yemen's Houthi rebels. To the north, Israel traded fire almost daily with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon.
And the families of hostages kidnapped by Hamas endure an excruciating wait for news of relatives trapped in the maze of tunnels deep beneath Gaza.
Ayelet Sela, whose seven cousins were abducted from one of the kibbutz communities attacked by Hamas gunmen, said she will have "no rest" until her loved ones are returned.
"We have no more tears, our eyes are dry, we have been empty for three weeks," said Sheila, speaking to AFP at the Great Synagogue in Paris. "I just want one thing, they come back."
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