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A Briton in Gaza said he has been told “be ready to go” by the UK’s Foreign Office as he waits to cross the border into Egypt.

Dr Abdel Hammad, a surgeon at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, arrived in Gaza on 6 October, a day before the attack on Israel by Hamas.

In an update to Sky News on Wednesday, Dr Hammad said he is still about 5km from the Rafah crossing, and is waiting to be allowed through.

Israel-Gaza latest updates

It comes as the first group of injured evacuees from Gaza have moved over the border.

President Joe Biden said American citizens are expected to be among the first group of foreigners able to leave Gaza for Egypt via the Rafah crossing today.

“We expect American citizens to exit today, and we expect to see more depart over the coming days,” he wrote on social media platform, X.

It comes after a deal, mediated by Qatar, was struck between Egypt, Israel, and Hamas, to open the crossing to foreign and dual nationals currently trapped in Gaza.

Dr Abdel Hammad
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Dr Abdel Hammad

The Palestinian General Authority for Crossing and Borders has published a list of more than 500 people, including 320 foreign passport holders, who will be allowed to leave via the crossing today.

It is still not known for certain if any British nationals were among the people referenced in the report.

The Foreign Office has given a full list of names of British Nationals and dependants in Gaza to Israeli and Egyptian authorities.

It said it is pressing at the most senior levels for all British Nationals to be able to cross as soon as it is practically possible.

Palestinians cross to the Egyptian side of the border crossing with the Gaza Strip Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023. in Rafah Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)
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Palestinians cross to the Egyptian side of the border. Pic: AP

Meanwhile, a Manchester school teacher trapped inside Gaza with 10 members of her husband’s family has told Sky News that British nationals could not cross the Rafah border today.

A spokesperson for Scotland’s first minister, whose wife’s parents are currently in Gaza, also said it was their understanding that British nationals were “not at present” included on the list of those being able to leave.

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Crowds enter Rafah crossing from Gaza

Footage broadcast on Egyptian state TV – and seen by Sky News – shows injured people being transported in ambulances across the border from the Gaza Strip.

Egypt’s health ministry says more than 80 wounded Palestinians are to be brought into the country for treatment, and a field hospital has been set up in an Egyptian town near the crossing.

The Italian foreign minister confirmed that four Italian citizens, one of whom was accompanied by his Palestinian wife, were also among those who have already left Gaza.

In other developments:
• The UK’s foreign secretary says teams are ready to assist British nationals in Gaza as soon as they are able to leave;
• The Israel Defence Forces says 16 of its troops have been killed in Gaza since Tuesday;
• Hamas claims seven hostages have been killed during a strike on a refugee camp in Gaza

Meanwhile, the UK’s Foreign Office says it understands the Rafah crossing will open for “controlled and time-limited periods” to let “specific groups” of foreigners and seriously wounded people leave Gaza.

The departure of British nationals “will take place in stages over the coming days,” according to the ministry.

“We have been working at every level of government to ensure the Rafah crossing could open and allow all British nationals to leave Gaza,” the department said in a statement.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly says UK teams are ready to assist British nationals in the Gaza Strip as soon as they are able to leave.

UK officials have been sent to the area to provide support, the foreign office added.

However, a spokesperson for Scotland’s first minister, Humza Yousaf says it is their understanding that “at this stage UK nationals are not at present included in this initial list of countries whose nationals can cross”.

“We welcome that the Rafah crossing looks set to be opened for a number of foreign nationals,” the spokesperson said.

“The first minister has been in contact with the foreign secretary this morning.

“We continue to liaise with the UK government and urge them to work with the Egyptian authorities so that all UK nationals can urgently leave Gaza as quickly as possible.”

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Crowds enter Rafah crossing from Gaza

According to the spokesperson, the first minister’s wife, Nadia, has spoken to her mother today, but the family remains “trapped in Gaza, without clean drinking water, and rapidly diminishing supplies”.

Rafah is Gaza’s only gateway to the rest of the world not directly controlled by Israel.

It is under the control of Egypt as part of an agreement with Israel and the European Union.

However, it has never been a normal, fully open border crossing and is tightly controlled by authorities in Cairo.

Read more:
What is the Rafah border crossing and who controls it?
How far has Israel got into Gaza?

Egyptian ambulances which will carry critically injured people, drive through the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, Egypt November 1, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer
Egyptian ambulances convoy which will carry critically injured people waits to go through the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, Egypt November 1, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer
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Earlier, a convoy of Egyptian ambulances were seen waiting to go through the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side

Over the years it has been closed for days, weeks and months at a time. When it does open it’s often intermittent and can suddenly close again.

It has been closed to civilians wishing to cross into Egypt since the start of last month’s conflict between Israel and Hamas – though a number of aid trucks have been allowed into Gaza through the Rafah crossing.

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At least 30 dead and 100 injured as armed groups clash in Syria, officials say

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At least 30 dead and 100 injured as armed groups clash in Syria, officials say

At least 30 people have been killed in the Syrian city of Sweida in clashes between local military groups and tribes, according to Syria’s interior ministry.

Officials say initial figures suggest around 100 people have also been injured in the city, where the Druze faith is one of the major religious groups.

The interior ministry said its forces will directly intervene to resolve the conflict, which the Reuters news agency said involved fighting between Druze gunmen and Bedouin Sunni tribes.

It marks the latest episode of sectarian violence in Syria, where fears among minority groups have increased since Islamist-led rebels toppled President Bashar al Assad in December, installing their own government and security forces.

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In March, Sky’s Stuart Ramsay described escalating violence within Syria

The violence reportedly erupted after a wave of kidnappings, including the abduction of a Druze merchant on Friday on the highway linking Damascus to Sweida.

Last April, Sunni militia clashed with armed Druze residents of Jaramana, southeast of Damascus, and fighting later spread to another district near the capital.

But this is the first time the fighting has been reported inside the city of Sweida itself, the provincial capital of the mostly Druze province.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports the fighting was centred in the Maqwas neighbourhood east of Sweida and villages on the western and northern outskirts of the city.

It adds that Syria’s Ministry of Defence has deployed military convoys to the area.

Western nations, including the US and UK, have been increasingly moving towards normalising relations with Syria.

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UK aims to build relationship with Syria

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Read more from Sky News:
UK restores diplomatic ties with Syria
Church in Syria targeted by suicide bomber

Concerns among minority groups have intensified following the killing of hundreds of Alawites in March, in apparent retaliation for an earlier attack carried out by Assad loyalists.

That was the deadliest sectarian flare-up in years in Syria, where a 14-year civil war ended with Assad fleeing to Russia after his government was overthrown by rebel forces.

The city of Sweida is in southern Syria, about 24 miles (38km) north of the border with Jordan.

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Meredith Kercher’s killer faces new trial over sexual assault allegations

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Meredith Kercher's killer faces new trial over sexual assault allegations

The man convicted of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher has been charged with sexual assault against an ex-girlfriend.

Rudy Guede, 38, was the only person who was definitively convicted of the murder of 21-year-old Ms Kercher in Perugia, Italy, back in 2007.

He will be standing trial again in November after an ex-girlfriend filed a police report in the summer of 2023 accusing Guede of mistreatment, personal injury and sexual violence.

Guede, from the Ivory Coast, was released from prison for the murder of Leeds University student Ms Kercher in 2021, after having served about 13 years of a 16-year sentence.

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Since last year – when this investigation was still ongoing – Guede has been under a “special surveillance” regime, Sky News understands, meaning he was banned from having any contact with the woman behind the sexual assault allegations, including via social media, and had to inform police any time he left his city of residence, Viterbo, as ruled by a Rome court.

Guede has been serving a restraining order and fitted with an electronic ankle tag.

The Kercher murder case, in the university city of Perugia, was the subject of international attention.

Ms Kercher, a 21-year-old British exchange student, was found murdered in the flat she shared with her American roommate, Amanda Knox.

The Briton’s throat had been cut and she had been stabbed 47 times.

(L-R) Raffaele Sollecito, Meredith Kercher and Amanda Knox. Pic: AP
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(L-R) Raffaele Sollecito, Meredith Kercher and Amanda Knox. File pic: AP

Ms Knox and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were placed under suspicion.

Both were initially convicted of murder, but Italy’s highest court overturned their convictions, acquitting them in 2015.

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IDF blames ‘technical error’ after Gaza officials say children collecting water killed in strike

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IDF blames 'technical error' after Gaza officials say children collecting water killed in strike

The Israeli military says it missed its intended target after Gaza officials said 10 Palestinians – including six children – were killed in a strike at a water collection point.

Another 17 people were wounded in the strike on a water distribution point in Nuseirat refugee camp, said Ahmed Abu Saifan, an emergency physician at Al Awda Hospital.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it had intended to hit an Islamic Jihad militant but a “technical error with the munition” had caused the missile to fall “dozens of metres from the target”.

The IDF said the incident is under review, adding that it “works to mitigate harm to uninvolved civilians as much as possible” and “regrets any harm to uninvolved civilians”.

A wounded child is treated after the strike on the water collection point. Pic: Reuters
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A wounded child is treated after the strike on the water collection point. Pic: Reuters

Officials at Al Awda Hospital said it received 10 bodies after the Israeli strike on the water collection point and six children were among the dead.

Ramadan Nassar, who lives in the area, said around 20 children and 14 adults were lined up Sunday morning to fill up water.

When the strike occurred, everyone ran and some, including those who were severely injured, fell to the ground, he said.

Blood stains are seen on containers at the water collection point. Pic: Reuters
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Blood stains are seen on containers at the water collection point. Pic: Reuters

In total, 19 people were killed in Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, local health officials said.

Two women and three children were among nine killed after an Israeli strike on a home in the central town of Zawaida, officials at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said.

Israel has claimed it hit more than 150 targets in the besieged enclave in the past day.

The latest strikes come after the Israel military opened fire near an aid centre in Rafah on Saturday. The Red Cross said 31 people were killed.

The IDF has said it fired “warning shots” near the aid distribution site but it was “not aware of injured individuals” as a result.

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Palestinians shot while seeking aid, says paramedic

The war in Gaza started in response to Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 people and saw about 250 taken hostage.

More than 58,000 Palestinians have since been killed, with more than half being women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.

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Palestinians shot while seeking aid, says paramedic

Dozens of MPs call for UK to recognise Palestine as state

US President Donald Trump has said he is closing in on another ceasefire agreement that would see more hostages released and potentially wind down the war.

But after two days of talks this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there were no signs of a breakthrough, as a new sticking point emerged over the deployment of Israeli troops during the truce.

Hamas still holds 50 hostages, with fewer than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

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