The US government on Saturday advised its citizens in Gaza to move south toward the Rafah border crossing with Egypt to be ready for its possible reopening amid the humanitarian crisis in the coastal enclave after a Hamas attack in Israel drew Israeli military retaliation.
Washington worked with Egypt, Israel, and Qatar to try to open the Rafah crossing for limited hours on Saturday afternoon to allow Palestinian-Americans to leave, a senior State Department official told reporters traveling with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
But it was unclear whether the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which controls Gaza, would allow access to the crossing, or whether any US citizens were able to exit, the official said later. It was not immediately known whether the US would make another attempt to get Rafah opened on Sunday.
"We have informed US citizens in Gaza with whom we are in contact that if they assess it to be safe, they may wish to move closer to the Rafah border crossing," a US State Department spokesperson said. "There may be very little notice if the crossing opens and it may only open for a limited time."
The US government estimates the number of dual-citizen Palestinian-Americans in Gaza at 500 to 600 among the strip's population of 2.3 million, and Washington hopes to get many of its nationals out of harm's way.