At least 70 Russian citizens have been evacuated from the Gaza Strip, they will go to Cairo and from there will be taken to Moscow, the Russian diplomatic mission in Palestine told RIA Novosti.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an order on May 20 to evacuate Russian and CIS citizens from the Gaza Strip at their will.
"Today 70 Russian citizens, mostly women and children, left the Gaza Strip through the Rafah checkpoint. They are met by our colleagues-diplomats working in Egypt, who will escort the evacuees to Cairo, from where the Russians will be flown to Moscow," the statement said.
The situation on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip escalated on the evening of May 10. Since the escalation began, according to the Israeli army, about 4.3 thousand rockets were fired from the Palestinian enclave, about 640 of them fell inside the enclave, the effectiveness of the "Iron Dome" defense system Israel estimated at 90%. According to the latest information, 12 people were killed in Israel and more than 50 were seriously wounded. The number of Palestinians killed in retaliatory Israeli airstrikes reached 243. 1.9 thousand people were wounded.
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Photo: AP / TASS
Based on materials from RIA Novosti