In all, some 200 foreigners from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Greece, Spain, the United States and Malaysia have crossed into Egypt through the Rafah border crossing. After a thorough screening process they continued their trip to Cairo.
Among the 13 Russian evacuees are eight children. The Russian Embassy in Cairo has said that they would be given temporary housing and could fly to Russia as early as Tuesday.
A young woman who asked to remain anonymous told RIA Novosti that she was "shocked by what she had seen in the Gaza Strip. People aren't living there, they are trying to survive." She has been staying at the border crossing in Gaza with her Palestinian husband for two months.
She said that there are still Russians in the Palestinian enclave who refuse to leave for a variety of reasons.
Natalya Tamer, who left Gaza with four children, said "I'm happy that I was able to get the children out because they need a rest from the war, but I'm leaving with a heavy heart because I've left my husband behind."
Palestinians have not been allowed to leave the Gaza Strip since the Islamist Hamas movement came to power in 2007. Though the political movement won a democratic election, it took control of the Gaza Strip following an armed struggle with the Palestinian Authority's ruling Fatah movement.
Israel started pulling troops out of Gaza on Sunday, more than three weeks after the start of its assault on the Palestinian enclave of 1.5 million. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has promised European leaders that Israel will finish the process "as soon as possible."
Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire at 2 a.m. local time (0000 GMT) on Sunday, saying it had achieved all its objectives. Several hours after Israel's announcement, Hamas, which runs Gaza, also declared an immediate ceasefire, adding that the militants had given Israel a week to withdraw its troops.
Israel's ambassador to Russia, Anna Azari, did not exclude the possibility of renewing military operations in the Gaza Strip.
"We are in the first days of this unilateral decision and the army is still deployed within Gaza, and if our solution doesn't work, then perhaps we will take other decisions to renew military operations," Azari said at a news conference on Monday.
She said that the aim of the military operations was and would remain to be "the issue of security for the peaceful inhabitants of the parts of Israel near Gaza."
Israel launched its attack on Gaza on December 27, targeting Hamas infrastructure in a bid to put an end to rocket attacks by Palestinian militants on Israeli border towns. The military operation left over 1,300 Palestinians dead, the majority of them civilians. Thirteen Israelis, 10 of them military personnel, lost their lives in the fighting.
