MOSCOW – The first group of 70 Russians evacuated from the Gaza Strip arrived at the operational headquarters of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry in Cairo, according to a TASS correspondent.
A column of a bus and three minibuses carrying Russian citizens approached the conference hall of one of the hotels where the headquarters was set up. The evacuees were met by teams of medical workers and representatives of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
According to head of the operation, adviser to the Russian Minister of Emergency Situations, Daniil Martynov, the operational group of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations will remain in Egypt until all Russians who have expressed a desire to leave Gaza are evacuated. “We will stay here for as long as it takes to evacuate everyone. We will leave only when the last compatriot or person who turned to us for help is taken out and put on a plane,”he said.
He stressed that the operational group “is ready to evacuate all Russian citizens and those who asked for help – about 1,000 people – over a few days.” “If the checkpoint is open, we need a few days,”he said, noting that “the operational group has been at the border crossing for the last three days”and was waiting for passage to be allowed. But the checkpoint was under fire, and Israel did not allow ambulances to pass.
It was reported earlier that the first group of 70 Russians evacuated from the Gaza Strip arrived at the operational headquarters of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry in Cairo. According to Daniil Martynov, the first group of 70 Russians evacuated from the Gaza Strip will leave on the morning of November 13 for Moscow. “Tomorrow at 10 o’clock we are leaving for Cairo airport, where a plane to Moscow is waiting for us,”he said. According to him, “all 70, the first 70 people, made it”to the operational headquarters.