Special report: Internal situation in Palestine 

Foreigners in Gaza wave when they are leaving. Israel on Wednesday opened its border with the Gaza Strip for foreign citizens in the coastal area and Palestinians in need of medical treatment.(Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    JERUSALEM, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Israel on Wednesday opened its border with the Gaza Strip for foreign citizens in the coastal area and Palestinians in need of medical treatment.

    Bernard Barregg, spokesman of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Jerusalem, told Xinhua that the ICRC is currently working with Magen David Adom (MDA), which provides pro-hospital emergency medical services and Red Cross in Israel, to transfer Palestinian patient in Gaza hospitals to Israel.

    Four Palestinians needing medical treatment were evacuated to Israeli hospitals on Wednesday, and three more are also expected to be transferred later in the day.

    Barregg said that most of the cases they are dealing with are people injured during last week's intensive infighting between the Palestinian factions of Fatah and Hamas, and those who are suffering from serious illness too complicated for Gaza hospitals to treat.

    According to Barregg, ICRC personnel in Gaza will examine the patients in hospitals and decide whether they should be transferred, and the MDA will arrange transportation from the Erezborder crossing to Israeli hospitals.

    Barregg said that there are as many as 50 Palestinians in hospitals in Gaza are waiting for evacuation, and the transfer is going to continue in the upcoming days.

    Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told Xinhua that the Erez crossing will keep open as long as there are Palestinians in need of help.

    She said that the terminal is also open for foreign journalists, diplomats and citizens, adding that a number of Russian and Ukrainian citizens have passed through Erez.

    Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported on its website that among those who left Gaza on Wednesday were 140 stranded Russian citizens, whom Russia had been trying for several days to evacuate.

    Most of them are women married to Palestinians and their children, said the reports.

    Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Wednesday ordered the IDF to begin evacuating the Palestinians in need of urgent medical care from Gaza via Erez Crossing, which has been shut down by Israel since Hamas' violent takeover of the strip.

    Some 100 to 200 Palestinians have been waiting at Erez Crossing for the chance to flee the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip in the past few days, but only a small number of them were granted permission by Israel to pass.

IDF ordered to let in Palestinians in humanitarian cases from Gaza

    JERUSALEM, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has ordered Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to begin evacuating the Palestinians in need of urgent medical care from Gaza via Erez Crossing, Israeli daily Jerusalem Post reported on Wednesday.

    Some 100 to 200 Palestinians are now waiting at Erez Crossing for the chance to flee the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.Full story

Army: Israeli tanks inside Gaza to protect crossing

    JERUSALEM, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tanks crossed into Gaza in order to protect the Erez Crossing, which connects Israel and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, the army said on Tuesday.

    An IDF spokesman said to Xinhua on Tuesday that the tanks entered Gaza to protect the crossing, but would not take actions against Hamas or protect the Palestinian civilians. Full story

Palestinians hoping to flee from the Gaza Strip walks through the tunnel passageway towards the Erez Crossing in the northern Gaza Strip, June 20, 2007. An unspecified number of Palestinians were allowed into the Erez Crossing for urgent medical care with the order of Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak under humanitarian considerations. (Xinhua Photo/Wissam Nassar) Photo Gallery>>>