Foreign Ministry says 46 citizens evacuated from Gaza

Amman: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates announced on Sunday that it had evacuated 46 Jordanian citizens from the Gaza Strip. The ministry had announced on Saturday that it would begin evacuating 63 Jordanian citizens from the Gaza Strip via the Rafah border crossing into Egypt. The ministry's spokesperson, Sufyan Qudah, said that 41 out of the 46 evacuated citizens were transported by boat from Nuweiba, Egypt, to Aqaba, Jordan, on a vessel operated by the Arab Bridge Maritime Company. The remaining five arrived in Cairo. Qudah said that officials at the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) received the evacuated citizens and provided them with assistance and medical care. Those who wished to continue on to Amman were transported by the ASEZA. Qudah said that the total number of Jordanian citizens evacuated from the Gaza Strip to Egypt through the Rafah crossing is now 712, out of a total of 1,153 Jordanian citizens registered with the ministry. He said that a team from the Jordani an embassy in Egypt is still in place to oversee the evacuation process and provide assistance to Jordanian citizens in the Gaza Strip. Qudah reiterated that the evacuation process will continue as long as necessary, using a variety of methods. He called on Jordanian citizens in the Gaza Strip to contact the ministry's Operations and Consular Affairs Directorate for assistance by calling the following numbers: 00962799562903, 00962799562471, 00962799562193 or via email: op.ctr@fm.gov.jo Source: Jordan News Agency