MOSCOW, November 20. /TASS/. There are no Israeli officials at the Rafah checkpoint on the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, Israeli Ambassador to Russia Alexander Ben Zvi told TASS.

"There is no Israeli presence at the Rafah border crossing. It is about Egypt on the one side and Hamas on the other. Egypt is thoroughly checking all who are crossing. They have their own considerations about Hamas," he said when asked about the evacuation of Russian nationals and other foreigners via the Rafah checkpoint.

According to the Israeli diplomat, many Russian nationals have already been evacuated from the Gaza Strip. "The list included approximately 7,000 citizens of foreign countries. Egypt lets in 600-650 people a day. On some days, they let 250 Russians cross into Egypt. On one day, only 12 were let in. I don’t know what they are guided by. It doesn’t depend on us. As far as I know, they received the lists. I can speak only in general terms. Apart from the fact that 7,000 are on the list, Hamas opens this checkpoint on its side not every day. We are not present there," he said, adding that Hamas may close the checkpoint "due to its own reasons." On such days, in his words, "the queue is not shortening and the waiting time increases for all."

The Russian foreign ministry said earlier that the remaining Russian nationals and their families will be evacuated from the Gaza Strip in the coming days.