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Middle East conflict

Special flight with second group of Russian evacuees leaves Gaza for Moscow

More than 1,000 people have applied for evacuation from the Gaza Strip, among them there are Russian citizens, members of the Russian diaspora and 300 minors

CAIRO, November 14. /TASS/. An Ilyushin-76 airplane carrying a second group of Russian citizens who were forced to flee the Gaza Strip has left Cairo for Moscow, a TASS correspondent reports.

The airplane will deliver 98 evacuees who crossed from Gaza through the Rafah checkpoint on Monday. This is a second group of Russian citizens rescued from the enclave.

The evacuation of Russian citizens trapped in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict zone in the Gaza Strip has been arranged by Russia’s Emergencies Ministry and diplomats. The first group of 70 Russian citizens crossed the border at the Rafah checkpoint into Egypt on November 12. A total of 169 Russian citizens crossed the checkpoint over the past two days. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said earlier. More than 1,000 people have applied for evacuation from the Gaza Strip, among them there are Russian citizens, members of the Russian diaspora and 300 minors. On Monday, a special Ilyushin-76 plane of the Russian Emergencies Ministry carrying 70 Russian citizens landed in Moscow.

Russian Emergencies Minister Alexander Kurenkov has told TASS that the ministry’s forward group works at the checkpoint constantly to help exiting Russians. "The mechanism is calibrated" and will operate until the last Russian leaves Gaza.

"We will keep flying and moving, and the ministry’s advance team will be doing its job as long as necessary. Until the last person has been helped out. If it is necessary to wait just for one person, we will wait for this one person, a Russian citizen," he said.

Kurenkov stressed that the operation to evacuate Russians from Gaza would be considered successful only when the last Russian citizen has left its territory. The route from the checkpoint Rafah to Domodedovo airport has been explored well enough. After having some rest in Cairo the evacuees are taken by Ilyushin-76 transport planes to Domodedovo, where a crisis management center is deployed and services of the customs and border guard authorities, the Interior Ministry, Health Ministry, Foreign Ministry, and the government of the Moscow Region are available.

"These people are arriving in the Moscow Region. They are taken to temporary accommodation centers. The Moscow Region as the host provides all assistance required," Kurenkov said.

The evacuees are emotionally exhausted. Many suffer from dehydration.

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