On Monday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby stated that Hamas isn’t just blocking Americans from leaving northern Gaza, but is “literally throwing up roadblocks” to stop people of other nationalities and Palestinians who want to flee the fighting.
Kirby said the White House wants to get Americans out of Gaza, but “the only way to really do that is through the Rafah gate in the south, which is another reason why Secretary Blinken has been working on this very, very hard. I don’t know that we have a very specific fingertip feel of exactly what the number is, but it’s clearly in the hundreds at least. And again, we’re working at this. And it’s not just the Americans, Katty. It’s also so many other people that live there, of foreign nationality, but also Palestinians, who want to get away from the fighting. And Hamas is literally — and I heard your guest previously — they are literally throwing up roadblocks. It’s — so, it’s, Egypt, certainly, we’ve got to work with Egypt to get that gate open, but Hamas is actually making that travel to the south much, much harder.”
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