Five Koreans in Gaza cross into Egypt through Rafah

Palestinians cross to the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with Gaza on Wednesday, Nov. 1. [AP]

Five Koreans in Gaza were safely evacuated to Egypt around 11:15 a.m. on Thursday after crossing the Rafah border checkpoint, according to Seoul’s Foreign Ministry.

According to local media reports, the five are a single family — a Korean woman, her Palestinian husband and their three children.

The Foreign Ministry only confirmed that all five evacuees are Korean nationals from the same family and the only Koreans in Gaza.

The ministry said it dispatched an official from the Korean Embassy in Cairo to escort the evacuees to pre-arranged health checks and their accommodation.

Their evacuation came nearly a month after the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

Since the incursion, the South Korean government has been evacuating Koreans and their families from Israel.

A commercial flight evacuated 192 Koreans from Israel on Oct. 10, just a few days after the attack.

Shortly after, a Korean military aircraft departed Tel Aviv with another 163 Koreans, along with 51 Japanese nationals and six Singaporeans.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]