Biden: Americans in Gaza Secured Safe Passage Through Rafah Border Crossing
No timeline as to when all the Americans will leave or when Egypt will close the crossing again.
President Joe Biden announced that the United States has finally secured safe passage for Americans and wounded Palestinians through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt:
“We expect American citizens to exit today, and we expect to see more depart over the coming days,” Biden wrote in a post on X. “We won’t let up working to get Americans out of Gaza.”
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller later said during a press briefing that “there are around 400 Americans in Gaza with whom we are in communication, who have expressed a desire to leave” and that “There are a number of American citizens who have crossed through Rafah and are in Egypt today.”
Miller also said: “Hamas was impeding the departure of American citizens and other foreign nationals. We’ve talked before about how, at times, they had no one there at Rafah gate to process individuals who were attempting to leave. At other times, they were actively preventing them from approaching the gate, and they have now agreed to no longer stand in the way.”
No one has a timeline, though.
Those with foreign passports and some of those critically injured may leave.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby accused Hamas of purposely setting up ways to keep people from leaving:
“Why have Americans and foreign nationals still been unable to get out of Gaza, even though aid trucks have been going in?” a reporter asked Kirby during Tuesday’s White House press briefing. “Beyond putting blame on Hamas, what more can you say about what’s going on here and what the progress is?”
“I mean, they are putting obstacles up to allow us to get folks out,” Kirby said.
However, Kirby admitted it could be complicated:
He cautioned that “the situation remains very fluid” and explained the “complicated process” to identify Americans, make sure they had proper documentation, and then get a route available to them to exit safely and efficiently.
“A lot of work went into this, I mean, this has been building now for quite some time. So it — it wouldn’t be — I don’t think it’s accurate to say there was like one thing sort of like tripped the switch here.”
Today, thanks to American leadership, we secured safe passage for wounded Palestinians and for foreign nationals to exit Gaza.
We expect American citizens to exit today, and we expect to see more depart over the coming days.
We won't let up working to get Americans out of Gaza.
— President Biden (@POTUS) November 1, 2023
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Comments
Why was the border crossing into Egypt was previously closed? Security concerns.
How is that the Egyptian border is more secure than the border of the United States? The United States is a third world country and doesn’t have the resources available that Egypt has.
How many people live in Gaza? 2 million.
How many illegals has Biden let into this country? If every single person from Gaza were allowed into Egypt it would be less than 1/3 the number of Illegals Biden has let into the US.
You aren’t wrong about the motivation to enforce the border (and the epic failures by this POTUS), but just as a practical point, the Rafah border is much smaller and easier to defend than the southern US border.
The “injured Palestinians” trying to escape need to be carefully monitored too making sure the that Hamas animals don’t try to flee amidst them.
How about leaving them, we should not expend any resources on those people. Instead we should be helping Israel.
How come I never see my errors until after I hit the submit button?
Same for me, sometimes minor and others make me cringe.
This bumbling dangerous fool wants to give Hamas Nine Billion Dollars. Enough for 3 nuclear subs or a 8 frigates. Now what has he traded away for “Americans” that are voluntarily in Gaza?
It is Biden’s handlers, infiltrated by many bad apples.
Your numbers on costs for Frigates are accurate. The newest class of US Frigates, Constellation Class cost $1.25 ish billion for the first build and each additional Frigate is projected to cost a bit over $1 billion. The submarine numbers are way off. The Columbia class, which is supposed to replace the Ohio class currently in service, are projected at little bit over $9 billion each with the first under construction so likely to be higher than projected.
Five American aid workers supposedly crossed the border. Lots of promises, but few results. Biden is front loading future success. Why not all of the hostages in a single bus caravan, Joe? Oh, right, hostages.
US Media seem to be relying on a single press pool reporter. Every online report is vague.
Have all the Americans in Afghanistan received safe passage?
NBC News:
So, five aid workers were on the list and fewer than ten aid workers were issued promissory notes? What?