Hamas trying to smuggle wounded terrorists out of Gaza: Biden admin

Attempts by Hamas to smuggle wounded terrorists out of the Palestinian territory have delayed ongoing efforts to get foreign nationals, including Americans, out of the Gaza Strip, the Biden administration revealed on Friday. 

“Hamas was not allowing anybody to leave,” a senior Biden administration official said during a call with reporters. “And then they said that they would allow foreign nationals to leave, subject to a number of wounded Palestinians being allowed to leave, as well, which of course is not objectionable.

“But the list that was provided, once it was vetted, about a third of the wounded Palestinians on the list were members of Hamas,” the official went on, calling the subterfuge “unacceptable.”

Some 6,000 foreign nationals were trapped in the war zone, according to the official, including as many as 500 US citizens, mostly dual nationals.

President Biden announced Wednesday that Hamas had finally agreed to allow some US citizens to leave the Gaza Strip, along with wounded Palestinians and other foreign nationals. 

The Biden administration official said Qatar and Egypt “were critical” in negotiations with Hamas. 

On Thursday, Biden told reporters that  “74 American folks, dual citizens” were able to leave Gaza, departing via the Rafah crossing into neighboring Egypt. Five Americans were able to exit the previous day. 

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that he expects more Americans will be able to depart “at a similar pace, if not better than what we’ve seen.”

The urgency to get out of Gaza heightened in recent days as Israel ramped up military operations in the narrow strip of land, heavily bombing Hamas targets.

An Israeli airstrike on the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza, targeting Hamas leaders, killed at least 50 people earlier this week, according to reports. 

“It is not our military, it is not a US military campaign, and so I don’t want to be here armchair quarterbacking, but I will say when there are incidents, very certainly we have conversations with the Israelis,” the Biden administration official said when asked about the strike, calling the images of the aftermath “horrible.” 

“The explanations we’ve had from the Israelis, it was not just a battalion, battalion commander, it was a number of his leaders, a significant contingent of that battalion,” the official added, noting the “intent was not to collapse the city block.”