WASHINGTON (Reuters) – More than 300 Americans have left Gaza, but there are still U.S. citizens who remain in the besieged enclave, a White House official said on Sunday.
A number of Americans remain inside Gaza as the Israel-Hamas conflict rages and U.S. officials continue to work to get them out, Jonathan Finer, deputy national security adviser, said on the CBS show “Face the Nation.” He did not say how many U.S. citizens still cannot leave.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week there were around 400 American citizens and their family members totaling around 1,000 people who wanted to get out.
Evacuations of injured Gazans and foreign passport holders through the Rafah crossing to Egypt have been suspended since Saturday, but Egyptian, U.S. and Qatari officials said there were efforts to resume them.
Gaza has been under bombardment since Palestinian Hamas gunmen on Oct. 7 killed what Israel says were 1,400 people and took more than 240 captive into Gaza.
Finer also said the U.S. officials were working hard to secure the release of hostages taken by Hamas in the attack.
Gaza health authorities say more than 9,770 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes. Israel says it is aiming its attacks at Hamas, not civilians, and accuses the group of using them as human shields.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu, additional reporting by Jarrett Renshaw in Rehobeth Beach, Delaware; Editing by David Goodman and Giles Elgood)
