The first foreigners leave the Gaza Strip via the Rafah border crossing

9:16 a.m.: The first group of foreigners left the Gaza Strip for Egypt via the Rafah border crossing on Wednesday. Dozens of foreigners and people with dual nationality crossed the border crossing, journalists from the AFP news agency reported.

It was the first time since the start of the war between Israel and the radical Islamic Hamas that the border crossing was opened to people.

Border officer: First group before leaving Gaza

8:50 a.m.: According to an Egyptian border official, the first group of foreigners is about to leave the Gaza Strip. The people would pass through the Rafah border crossing towards Egypt on Wednesday, the official, who wished to remain anonymous, told AFP. Rafah is the only border crossing in the Gaza Strip that is not controlled by Israel.

Ambulances wait at the Rafah border crossing

8:40 a.m.: The treatment of Palestinian injured from the Gaza Strip in Egypt is obviously getting closer. On Wednesday morning, more than a dozen Egyptian ambulances drove to a gate at the Rafah border crossing, images from state-affiliated television channel Al-Kahira News showed. According to the general secretary of the Egyptian Red Crescent in North Sinai, Raed Abdel Nasser, 40 ambulances were ready. According to Al-Kahira News, they were waiting in the transit area of ​​the border crossing on the Egyptian side.

The border authority in Gaza was informed by the Egyptian side of the planned step on Tuesday evening. 81 seriously injured people would be able to cross the border in Rafah on Wednesday to be treated in Egyptian hospitals, the authority said in a statement. Employees of the Egyptian Red Crescent were also informed on Tuesday to be ready for the opening.

Since the beginning of the Gaza war, no treatment of the injured has been possible in Egypt. The opening of the Rafah crossing and who is allowed to pass through it is strictly regulated. The crossing has so far been used primarily to deliver relief goods.

Another complete communications blackout in the Gaza Strip

5:42 a.m.: According to Palestinian information, all internet and mobile communications failed again in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. “We regret (…) to announce that communications and internet services in the Gaza Strip are completely interrupted,” Palestinian telecommunications company Paltel said on X, formerly Twitter.

It is the second such incident in the Gaza Strip in less than a week. The network was completely interrupted at the end of last week, but was restored over the weekend.

The radical Islamic Palestinian organization Hamas had accused Israel of deliberately causing the raid in order to carry out “massacres” in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian telecommunications provider Jawwal had blamed Israel’s “massive bombing” in the Gaza Strip for the power outage.

US Senate confirms new ambassador to Israel after months of vacancy

Wednesday, November 1st, 12:20 a.m.: The US Senate has confirmed President Joe Biden’s nominee for new ambassador to Israel, Jack Lew, after months of vacancy. The Chamber of Congress confirmed Lew’s nomination on Tuesday with a vote of 53 to 43. The former Treasury Secretary had previously received a lot of criticism from Republican ranks for his role in concluding the controversial Iran nuclear deal in 2015 under President Barack Obama. The ambassador’s post in Israel had previously been vacant for months.

Palestinians: Two dead in West Bank confrontations

11:41 p.m.: According to Palestinian reports, two people were killed in clashes with the Israeli military in the West Bank on Tuesday. The Health Ministry in Ramallah said a 70-year-old was shot in the face during an army operation in the town of Tubas north of Nablus. Six other people were injured in the raid, one of them critically. A 16-year-old teenager is said to have been killed in confrontations with soldiers in the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron. The army said it was reviewing the reports.

Almost 60 trucks are bringing relief supplies to the Gaza Strip

11:15 p.m.: A total of 59 trucks carrying urgently needed relief supplies arrived in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday. The convoy included four trucks provided by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Palestinian Red Crescent said on Tuesday evening. The rest was supplied by the Egyptian Red Crescent, which is responsible for delivering aid from various Egyptian organizations and from other countries.

With this convoy, which transported food, water and medical supplies, a little more than 200 trucks have reportedly arrived in the sealed-off coastal area since the beginning of the Gaza war. According to the UN, 100 truckloads are needed every day to provide the 2.2 million people with essentials. Before the war began, an average of 500 trucks came into the Gaza Strip every day during the week, according to the UN emergency relief office OCHA.

Bolivia breaks off diplomatic relations with Israel

11:13 p.m.: Bolivia has severed diplomatic relations with Israel over its attacks on the Gaza Strip. The South American country made the decision “in rejection and condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip and the threat to international peace and security,” the Bolivian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday. At the same time, calls were made for an end to the attacks on the Gaza Strip.

The statement was released after President Luis Arce’s meeting with the Palestinian ambassador. Previously, former President Evo Morales criticized the government’s position and called for breaking off relations with Israel. Israel and Bolivia only decided to resume diplomatic relations and expand cooperation between the two countries in 2020. Morales had previously broken off relations in 2009 because of the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip.

Hope that the Rafah border crossing will be opened for wounded people from Gaza

9:49 p.m.: The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip could be opened on Wednesday to allow wounded Palestinians into Egypt for treatment, according to the Egyptian Red Crescent. The employees had been informed to be ready for Wednesday, said the Secretary General of the Red Crescent in North Sinai, Raed Abdel Nasser, to the German Press Agency on Tuesday evening. Further details were initially not known. The Palestinian ambassador to Egypt, meanwhile, said he had not yet been informed of a possible opening.

Rafah is the only crossing in the Gaza Strip that is not controlled by Israel. It is considered the most important crossing point to the outside world for the residents of Gaza.

IDF reports: Another 50 Hamas terrorists died in attack

8:52 p.m.: As the Israeli Defense Forces announced on its Telegram channel, IDF troops under the command of the Givati ​​Brigade operated in a Hamas military stronghold in the northern Gaza Strip over the past day. During their ground activities today, the troops are said to have around 50 Hamas terrorists, including the aforementioned Hamas commander Ibrahim Biari.