Hamas stalled evacuations by putting its wounded fighters on departure lists: US official

Hamas has been holding up efforts to get Americans and other foreign nationals out of Gaza and into Egypt through the Rafah Border Crossing by putting its own wounded fighters on departure lists meant for Americans, dual citizenship holders, Palestinian civilians, and other foreign nationals, according to a senior Biden administration official.

Since Oct. 7, when Hamas first invaded Israel, people holding dual, American, or some other foreign citizenship have been trying to leave through Gaza’s southern border and into Egypt, but their efforts have been blocked by Hamas, who officials have said were making unreasonable demands in order to let them cross into Egypt.

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The senior administration official provided insight into these demands during a background call with reporters on Friday. The official explained that Hamas provided the United States, Israel, and Egypt with multiple departure lists that included injured Palestinians who were wounded during the war and should be allowed to leave with Americans and other foreign nationals, which is not objectionable, the official said, but after vetting the individuals on the list, it showed many of them were injured Hamas fighters.

The review found that nearly a third of the wounded Palestinians on the first list were actually Hamas fighters and that it would be unacceptable to allow them to exit Gaza, the official said. While the administration would be happy to let injured Palestinian civilians out of Gaza, they just couldn’t let Hamas fighters leave on the departure list.

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This went on for some time as Hamas kept offering lists of injured Palestinians to let cross into Egypt that, after the vetting process, turned out to be Hamas fighters, the official said. This, in consequence, significantly delayed efforts to evacuate Americans, foreign nationals, dual citizenship holders, and Palestinian civilians, the senior administration official said.

However, after negotiations, it was eventually worked out with Hamas to allow the wounded Palestinian civilians who were not Hamas fighters to leave with the other foreign nationals, the official said. The Palestinians that were allowed to leave were actually caught in the middle of the war, the official said.