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Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Russian Emergencies Ministry’s IL-76 lands in Cairo to evacuate Russians fleeing Gaza

All the 64 people were waiting at the airport

CAIRO, May 26. /TASS/. An Ilyushin IL-76 military transport aircraft landed at Cairo airport on Wednesday night to repatriate 64 Russian nationals who had fled the Gaza Strip in the wake of armed confrontation between Palestine and Israel.

The IL-76 belonging to the Russian Emergencies Ministry touched down at Cairo’s airport at about 21.00 local time (22.00 Moscow Time). All the 64 people were waiting at the airport.

Earlier, Russia’s embassy in Cairo said that 64 people from Russia and the CIS countries would be evacuated from the Gaza Strip via Egypt on Wednesday. They had arrived in Egypt via the Rafah border crossing and then travelled on buses.

On May 20, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a resolution on evacuation of citizens of Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS, or post-Soviet republics) from the Gaza Strip at their request.

In early hours of May 21, the Egypt-brokered ceasefire entered into effect after 11 days of fighting, as the Palestinian groups operating in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli army have been exchanging strikes since May 10. The escalation was sparked by clashes at Al Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem in early May, after the Israeli court had ruled to evict Arab families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Palestinian militants have fired more than 4,000 rockets into Israel, in response the Israeli army bombed hundreds of targets in the enclave.

Over 270 civilians, including children and women, were killed in Gaza and 13 people in Israel.

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