NEW YORK, November 1. /TASS/. The radical Palestinian movement Hamas has asked to include its fighters in the list of wounded who will be allowed to leave the Gaza Strip through the Rafah checkpoint, CNN reported, citing a senior US official.
According to the TV channel, Hamas demanded this during negotiations on the passage of foreigners from the Palestinian enclave, but the appeal was turned down.
CNN's sources also say the agreement to let foreigners out of Gaza has nothing to do with negotiations over the fate of hostages held by Hamas. Those talks are separate, although they involve the same parties: Egypt, Israel, Qatar, the US and Hamas.
Earlier, Hamas published lists of people who will be allowed to leave the Gaza Strip through the Rafah checkpoint starting on Wednesday at 5:00 a.m. GMT. In total, there are at least 430 people on the lists. They include citizens of Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Indonesia, Japan and Jordan. Palestinians with dual citizenships, employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross and a number of non-governmental organizations will also be allowed to leave the enclave. Later, the Al-Qahera al-Ihbariya TV channel reported that dozens of ambulances entered the Gaza Strip from Egyptian territory through the Rafah checkpoint to transfer the first group of wounded and seriously ill Palestinians from Gaza to Egyptian territory.