Alert – Get to the border NOW! US Embassy tells foreign nationals to get to the Rafah crossing on Gaza-Egypt border to leave as Israeli tanks are lined up and ready to plough into besieged Palestinian enclave after Hamas attacks

The US Embassy has told foreign nationals to make their way to the Rafah crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border to evacuate as Israeli tanks prepare to plough into the besieged Palestinian enclave. 

The Israeli military has continued to punish Gaza with airstrikes in retaliation to the despicable terror attacks launched by Hamas on October 7. Tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers are readying themselves for battle as an invasion appears imminent.

In an urgent security alert this morning, the US Embassy said it had received information that the critical Rafah crossing would open this morning.

The border opened just after 10am local time (8am BST) to let the ‘life-saving’ aid in to Palestinians running short of food, medicine and water. The convoy of 20 trucks is the first to enter Gaza since the war erupted two weeks ago.

Authorities have told trapped US nationals to expect a ‘potentially chaotic and disorderly environment on both sides of the crossing’. There are an estimated 600 Americans in the enclave.

Urging foreign nationals to escape Gaza if they can, the embassy warned: ‘If the border is opened, we do not know how long it will remain open for foreign citizens to depart Gaza.’ 

They added: ‘The situation remains dynamic and fluid and the security environment is unpredictable. You should assess your personal safety and security before choosing to move toward the border or trying to cross.’ 

The opening of the Rafah crossing comes after more than a week of high-level diplomacy by various mediators, including visits to the region by US President Joe Biden and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the aid was a ‘lifeline’ for those suffering in the territory.

Aid workers on the Egyptian side of the crossing could be seen chanting and clapping as trucks passed through the main gate to Gaza. Southern Gaza is swollen by civilians who fled there from the north on Israeli instructions.

Egypt also opens a summit on the Gaza crisis today to try to head off a wider regional war. Egypt’s President Sisi told the summit he invited leaders to come to an agreement to end the humanitarian disaster in Gaza and revive a path to peace.

Among those present was Guterres who urged a ‘humanitarian ceasefire’ in the war and called for global ‘action to end this godawful nightmare’. 

It comes as Hamas released hostages Judith Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter, Natalie, after they spent almost two weeks in captivity following their abduction from a kibbutz by the terror group.

The two had been on a trip from their home in suburban Chicago to Israel to celebrate Jewish holidays, the family said. They were in the kibbutz of Nahal Oz, near Gaza, on Oct. 7 when Hamas and other terrorists stormed into southern Israeli towns, killing hundreds and abducting 210 others.

The family had heard nothing from them since the attack and were later told by US and Israeli officials that they were being held in Gaza, Natalie’s brother Ben said.

Her brother joked that he was ‘annoyed’ because she still looked ‘like a supermodel’, despite her ordeal. Natalie’s father after said she is ‘doing very well’ despite spending 13 days in captivity. 

‘She’s doing good. She’s doing very good,’ said Uri Raanan, 71, who lives in the Chicago suburbs, adding that they did not discuss where she was held or her conditions in captivity.

‘She did not tell me anything. But she told me they treat her nice, and she was doing very good. I’m going to hug her and kiss her, and it’s going to be the best day of my life.’

President Joe Biden spoke with the two freed hostages and their relatives. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which transported the freed Americans from Gaza to Israel, said their release was ‘a sliver of hope.’

Relatives of other captives welcomed the release and appealed for more people to be freed. They were released for humanitarian reasons in an agreement with Qatar, a Persian Gulf nation that has often served as a Mideast mediator.

Hamas said in a statement that it was working with mediators ‘to close the case’ of hostages if security circumstances permit. The group added that it is committed to mediation efforts by Egypt, Qatar and other countries.

Qatar said it would continue its dialogue with Israel and Hamas in hopes of winning the release of all hostages ‘with the ultimate aim of de-escalating the current crisis and restoring peace.’

Elsewhere, Israel’s government sent out a threatening message about the future, warning that it will cut ‘the umbilical cord’ with Gaza to create ‘a new security reality’ and block all crossings after annihilating Hamas in a ground invasion.

Israel will enforce a buffer zone within the Gaza Strip once the war is over, Israel’s agriculture minister Avi Dichter said on Thursday. 

In comments that seemed to refer to setting up a buffer zone in the coastal strip, Israel’s foreign minister Eli Cohen said on Wednesday that ‘at the end of this war, not only will Hamas no longer be in Gaza, but the territory of Gaza will also decrease’.

Israel has urged its own citizens to immediately leave Egypt and Jordan as regional tensions continue to flare over the war in Gaza.

‘Israel’s National Security Council raises its travel warnings for Egypt (including Sinai) and Jordan to level 4 (high threat): recommendation not to travel to these countries and for those staying there to leave… as soon as possible,’ the national security council said in a statement.

The notice comes just days after Israel recalled its diplomats from Turkey as a security precaution following an earlier request for its citizens to leave as well.

The evacuation calls came after days of protests across the Middle East over Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

The war ignited after Hamas terrorists stormed into Israel from the Gaza Strip, taking more than 200 hostages and killing at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians who were shot, mutilated or burnt to death, according to Israeli officials.

Israel has since vowed to destroy Hamas, and a bombing campaign launched in response has levelled entire city blocks in Gaza, so far killing 4,385 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers and scores of tanks and armoured vehicles are now positioned on the border – ready for a ground assault on the Gaza Strip.

With innocent civilians being caught up in the crossfire, there is relief that the Rafah crossing has opened today to allow in humanitarian aid. 

More than 200 trucks and some 3,000 tons of aid are positioned near the crossing. Israel said the supplies could only go to civilians and that it would ‘thwart’ any diversions by Hamas. It was unclear if fuel for the hospital generators would be allowed to enter. 

James Cleverly said the aid flowing through the Rafah crossing into Gaza was a ‘lifeline’. But he said that access had to be maintained to provide humanitarian relief.

He said: ‘Trucks carrying lifesaving aid are beginning to cross at Rafah into Gaza. This aid is a lifeline for those suffering. But it cannot be a one-off. The UK continues to push for humanitarian access to Gaza.’

UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffithsaid: ‘I am confident that this delivery will be the start of a sustainable effort to provide essential supplies… to the people of Gaza.’ But he added: ‘This first convoy must not be the last.’

ActionAid Palestine spokesman Riham Jafari said the Rafah crossing convoy was ‘barely a drop in the ocean’ and called for a ceasefire and the opening of humanitarian corridors. 

The Hamas media officer reportedly said the 20 trucks ‘will not change the catastrophic medical conditions in Gaza’. 

Israel has sealed off the territory for two weeks, forcing Palestinians 2.3million people, half of whom have fled, to ration food and to drink filthy water from wells. Hospitals say they are running low on medicine and fuel for emergency generators amid a territory-wide blackout.

Many in Gaza, reduced to eating one meal a day and without enough water to drink, are waiting desperately for the aid which was seen entering Gaza this morning.

Twenty trucks from the Egyptian Red Crescent, which is responsible for delivering aid from various UN agencies, entered the Egyptian terminal.

The US Embassy’s release came amid growing expectations of a ground offensive that Israel says is aimed at rooting out the militant group, which has ruled Gaza for 16 years. Israel said Friday it does not plan to take long-term control over the tiny territory.

Two large explosions were reported in northern Gaza early Saturday, and rockets set off air raid sirens in a nearby Israeli town.

A potential Israeli ground assault is likely to lead to a dramatic escalation in casualties on both sides in urban fighting.

Hamas have continued to launch unrelenting rocket attacks into Israel – more than 6,900 projectiles since Oct. 7, according to Israel.

Speaking to lawmakers about Israel’s long-term plans for Gaza, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant laid out a three-stage plan that seemed to suggest Israel did not intend to reoccupy the territory it left in 2005.

First, Israeli airstrikes and ‘manoeuvring’ – a presumed reference to a ground attack – would aim to root out Hamas. Next will come a lower intensity fight to defeat remaining pockets of resistance. And, finally, a new ‘security regime’ will be created in Gaza along with ‘the removal of Israel’s responsibility for life in the Gaza Strip,’ Gallant said.

Gallant did not say who Israel expected to run Gaza if Hamas is toppled or what the new security regime would entail.

Israel occupied Gaza from 1967 until 2005, when it pulled up settlements and withdrew soldiers. Two years later, Hamas took over. Some Israelis blame the withdrawal from Gaza for the five wars and countless smaller exchanges of fire since then.

The humanitarian crisis has worsened for Gaza’s civilians every day since Israel halted entry of supplies. 

Over a million people have been displaced in Gaza. Many heeded Israel’s orders to evacuate from north to south within the sealed-off enclave on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. But Israel has continued to bomb areas in southern Gaza where Palestinians had been told to seek safety, and some appear to be going back to the north because of bombings and difficult living conditions in the south.

Gaza’s overwhelmed hospitals were rationing their dwindling resources.

Generators in Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest, were operating at the lowest setting to conserve fuel while providing power to vital departments such as intensive care, hospital director Mohammed Abu Selmia said. Others worked in darkness. The lack of medical supplies and water make it difficult to treat the mass of victims from the Israeli strikes, he said.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said it had received a threat from the Israeli military to bomb Al-Quds Hospital. It said Israel has demanded the immediate evacuation of the Gaza City hospital, which has more than 400 patients and thousands of displaced civilians who sought refuge on its grounds, it said.