The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will not say how many are injured or how badly they are injured, but says it is a smaller number. – We have information that there are injured Norwegians in Gaza. That is what we have feared. That has been the reason why we work so widely with this problem. We work on it from the crisis team here in Oslo and out at our stations. We are working along all lines to assist our Norwegian citizens, says crisis manager in the Foreign Ministry’s crisis staff, Guro Markussen Løvaas to news. She adds that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is very concerned about the Norwegian citizens in the area. – We also have many citizens who are without the most essential things such as food and water. It is a situation that has been going on for a long time, says Løvaas. Crisis manager in the Foreign Ministry’s crisis staff, Guro Markussen Løvaas, says they are worried about Norwegian citizens in Gaza. Here from the room where the crisis team works. Photo: Marit Sirum-Eikre / news Desperate Norwegians in Gaza The Foreign Ministry specifies that there is a chaotic and unclear situation in Gaza. The ministry is in contact with many of the Norwegian citizens who are there. This is via telephone, WhatsApp and other channels, in addition to their relatives back home in Norway. – We are in constant contact and work around the clock. The Norwegian citizens we are in contact with are of course very distressed. It is a very dangerous place to stay. This applies both to the bomb attacks, but also to the lack of food, water and medicine, says Løvaas. – They tell about difficult situations and days that only get tougher. This situation is clearly in a negative development. The Foreign Ministry has previously stated that around 200 Norwegian citizens are inside the Gaza Strip. At least half of them are children. news meets Guro Markussen Løvaas in the Foreign Ministry’s crisis staff room on Monday. The crisis team is here 24 hours a day. It has done so since the crisis began. The Foreign Ministry’s crisis staff works 24 hours a day to assist Norwegian citizens inside Gaza. Photo: Marit Sirum-Eikre There are people here who are in direct contact with Norwegian citizens, assist with analyses, crisis managers and there are people from here who have traveled out to support our embassies to assist when the borders are opened and Norwegians come out. Emergency teams are ready Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide was at the weekend in Cairo, Egypt, where politicians from both Arab and Western countries had gathered to discuss the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. In a video interview with news, he said that work is being done at full speed with good help from the Egyptian authorities, to assist Norwegian citizens who eventually get across the Egyptian border. Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide attended a summit in Cairo at the weekend to discuss the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. Photo: KHALED DESOUKI / AFP – We have an emergency team ready that can receive Norwegian citizens if they cross the border, said the foreign minister. The Gaza Strip borders Israel to the north and east, and Egypt to the south. Israel has imposed a full blockade of Gaza, and is not letting anyone out. – They will be escorted down through Sinai. It is a coordinated effort that requires Israel to tolerate it and Egypt to be ready to assist. The same applies to those who rule in Gaza so that we can get those citizens out, said the foreign minister about the possibility of getting Norwegian citizens out via the border crossing to Egypt. The Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt has been opened for emergency aid into Gaza. The hope is that it will also be opened so that foreign citizens can get out of Gaza.
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Norwegians injured in Gaza – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
