IL-76 Military Aircraft Lands In Cairo, Russia Evacuates Dozens Of Its Citizens From The Gaza Strip

Russia's Ilyushin IL-76 military aircraft. (Wikimedia Commons / Dmitry Avdeev)

JAKARTA - An Ilyushin IL-76 military transport plane landed in Cairo, Egypt on Wednesday, May 26 evening local time, to evacuate Russian and CIS civilians from Palestine.

The plane belonging to the Ministry of Emergency Situations arrived at Cairo Airport at around 21.00 p.m. local time. Meanwhile, a total of 64 civilians who will be evacuated are waiting at the airport.

"All civilians who will be evacuated from Russia and the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries will be evacuated from the Gaza Strip via Egypt on Wednesday", said the Russian Embassy in Cairo, reported TASS.

"Russian and CIS citizens who will be evacuated from the Gaza Strip, Palestine arrive in Egypt via the Rafah border crossing and then travel overland by bus", the embassy continued.

On May 20, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a resolution on the evacuation of citizens of Russia and the CIS or post-Soviet republics from the Gaza Strip at their request.

For information, after 11 days of armed clashes since May 10, Palestinian militants Hamas and the Israeli military agreed to a ceasefire on May 21 at 02.00 a.m. in the morning local time.

The escalation was sparked by clashes at the Al Aqsa Mosque, East Jerusalem in early May after an Israeli court ruled to expel Arab families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

Palestinian militants have fired more than 4.000 rockets at Israel in response to Israeli soldiers bombing hundreds of targets in the enclave. More than 270 civilians, including children and women were killed in Gaza and 13 in Israel