Amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, it has now come to light that the Palestine-based Islamist outfit tried to put their injured terrorists on departure lists meant for the evacuation of US nationals through the Rafah gate crossing into Egypt.
As per a report by The New York Times, an official of the Biden administration informed on Friday (3rd November) that the evaluation of US nationals was delayed due to Hamas and its nefarious attempt.
The evacuation process was delayed by several weeks and finally commenced on Wednesday (1st November). The Rafah crossing remained closed for a long time since October 7 when Hamas launched an unprovoked attack on Israel, killing 1400 people in the process.
“For most of that time, American officials said only that Hamas was preventing the departure of foreign nationals, and that the group was making unreasonable demands,” the NYT report noted.
Hamas reportedly provided a list of ‘wounded’ Palestinians to Egypt, Israel and the United States, reiterating that they should be evacuated along with US nationals and others. However, almost 1/3rd individuals on the list included injured Hamas terrorists.
The matter came to light only during the vetting process. When Israel, Egypt and the US turned down the list, Hamas kept providing new lists of ‘wounded’ Palestinians (that included its terrorists).
Egypt concerned about possible flow of Hamas terrorists into the country
According to The New York Times, the negotiations between the United States and Hamas took place through representatives of the Qatar government.
“The official who spoke to reporters on Friday said that Hamas eventually relented in its demands for the passage of its fighters. The prospect of Hamas fighters leaving Gaza was especially troubling for Egypt, which remains concerned about the possibility of terrorists flowing into its country,” the report added.
Later, Hamas provided a list of injured Palestinians that did not include Hamas terrorists. As such, the evacuation process was delayed by several weeks