400 Americans approved to leave Gaza as Israel-Hamas war rages

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Father speaks out on his daughter and her family trying to escape Gaza

John Rauschenberger on his family trying to flee from Gaza as the war escalates

Four hundred Americans have been approved to leave Gaza as soon as Thursday, Fox News confirmed. 

Fox News obtained a list of 400 names of U.S. citizens cleared to leave Gaza as the Israel-Hamas war rages on. 

Two sources involved in the negotiations say the 400 Americans are clear to leave as soon as today. 

The State Department was working to assign American citizens in Gaza specific departure dates. Officials say they’ll notify those in Gaza who’ve been in contact with the department. 

In addition to Americans, there are citizens from Mexico, Hungary, Croatia, South Korea, Azerbaijan, Greece, Chad, Bahrain, Italy, Switzerland, North Macedonia, Sri Lanka, the Netherlands and Belgium. 

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Palestinians wait to cross into Egypt at Rafah, Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

Included on the list of 400 Americans cleared to leave are 2-year-old Zain Ramiz Younis and 8-month-old Zaina Ramiz Younis. The siblings are U.S. citizens, but their mother, Folla Saqer, a U.S. permanent resident, was told she could not cross the Rafah border into Egypt with her kids, the family’s attorney, Justin Eisele, told Fox News Digital. 

The family continues to implore the State Department and Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., for help. Saqer’s husband and the children’s father, Ramiz Younis, of Little Rock, Arkansas, already sued the U.S. government in federal court earlier this week pleading for assistance evacuating his family as well as other Palestinian Americans. 

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

There are thousands of foreign passport holders stuck in the Gaza Strip, including an estimated 400 Americans. 

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Hundreds of foreign passport-holders and dozens of other seriously wounded Palestinians desperate to escape Israel’s bombardment of Gaza crowded around the black metal gate on the Egyptian border Wednesday, hoping to pass through the enclave’s only portal to the outside world for the first time since the war began, according to The Associated Press. Everyone was waiting for the Hamas authorities to call their names over the scratchy loudspeaker. 

Palestinians wait to cross into Egypt at Rafah, Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

After three weeks of repeatedly dashed hopes and torturous negotiations between Egypt, Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers, the first group of Palestinians left the besieged strip through the Rafah crossing on Wednesday. 

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Squeezing through the border gates were 335 foreign passport-holders, mostly Palestinian dual nationals but also some foreigners, 76 critically wounded patients bound for Egyptian hospitals, and some staffers from aid organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.

The Associated Press contributed to this reported. 

Rich Edson is a senior national correspondent for Fox News Channel.