Who is being let out of Gaza? 

Welcome to Thursday’s Early Edition from i.

It has been 25 days since the bombardment of Gaza began in retaliation for the horrific Hamas terror attack on Israel. While calls for a ceasefire or a humanitarian pause continue to grow, one glimmer of hope appeared yesterday, as hundreds of people were let out of the Gaza Strip. Among them were 76 injured Gazans – a tiny proportion of the estimated 22,000 injured people still inside the Palestinian enclave, where access to healthcare is severely limited. Doctors speaking to i this week have revealed how C-sections are being performed with no anaesthetic, limbs are being amputated when injuries cannot be treated, and of how a lack of antibiotics is leaving some patients with sepsis. There are around 5,500 women due to give birth within a month, a UN agency has estimated. Fuel, medicine and clean water are becoming even more scarce as the war continues. The short border openings will bring relief to some. But who has been allowed out, and why were there reports of some people being turned away? We’ll take a look at some of the questions raised, after the headlines.

 Today’s news, and why it matters

 Universities face a growing free speech row after the Government was accused of silencing academics for “unacceptable” social media posts relating to the Israel-Hamas conflict. Michelle Donelan, the Science Secretary, expressed her “disgust” and “outrage” at two academics last week who shared posts on X in which they appeared to support Hamas or criticise Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.

Ministers face the threat of a judicial review from the rail industry and local councils if the Government pushes ahead with its plans to sell off land bought for HS2, i understands. The Government has said it will soon start selling land that had been acquired under compulsory purchase orders in a move that will make it near impossible for any future administration to try and deliver the high speed line north of Birmingham.

Boris Johnson failed to tackle a “macho” culture of misogyny, bullying and lack of diversity inside Downing Street which hampered the government’s response to Covid, the public inquiry into the pandemic has heard. Helen MacNamara, who at the time was the most senior female civil servant in government, revealed how the official response to the virus was “contaminated by ego” in which women in No10 were talked over or sidelined by men taking part in a “superhero bunfight”.

Labour has recorded its first Westminster poll lead in Scotland for almost a decade, with SNP voters still turning away from the party more than six months after Humza Yousaf replaced Nicola Sturgeon. The Scottish opinion monitor found that when undecided voters were removed, 38 per cent said they intended to back Labour at the next general election, compared to 32 per cent choosing the SNP.

TV presenter and writer Victoria Coren Mitchell, 51, has announced the birth of her second child with comedian David Mitchell, 49. The host of BBC’s Only Connect made the announcement of their new baby daughter, named June Violet, on Wednesday.

Three questions over the Rafah border opening:

Who made it out on Wednesday? More than 400 people were allowed through to Egypt, including 335 foreign passport and 76 Palestinian patients, along with their companions, the Palestinian Crossings Authority said. Palestinians with spinal injuries were among those transported out, as doctors at the few hospitals still open said they were prioritising those who cannot get the surgery they need. Dr Youssef Akkad, director of the European Gaza Hospital near Khan Younis, told i that 18 patients were being transferred from that hospital to Egypt for better care as fuel shortages forced hospitals to close. He said medical staff are having to make tough choices about who to invest their time and resources in. Before the war, for example, doctors would spend about 20 minutes on someone suffering from a cardiac arrest, Dr Akkad said. “Now we don’t try to save them”. He said that hundreds of people with injuries from the bombardment needed to be referred outside the 2.3m-strong Gaza Strip as soon as possible. Read that story here. Among the foreign nationals allowed through were British, US, French, German and Australian citizens. Some aid workers were also on the list, including 22 members from Medecins Sans Frontieres, who said they would be sending a new team into Gaza. Rishi Sunak said the UK will continue to work closely with Egypt and Israel to ensure more British citizens can leave Gaza safely, but it is unclear as to how many Brits made it out on Wednesday. A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “We have agreed a list of British nationals that want to leave Gaza with Egyptian and Israeli authorities. We will be informed in advance when those on the list can use the crossing to ensure we can provide assistance.” But a list seen by i, which is understood to show the names of foreign nationals able to leave the Gaza strip, only had the names of two British citizens – who are both NGO workers.

Why were some Brits turned away? Some of Brits who turned up at the crossing into Egypt on Wednesday were turned away, including one who was on a list of foreign passport holders. One of the two Britons on the list of those who were allowed through is Abdel Hammad, 67, a transplant surgeon from Liverpool, who arrived in Gaza the day before Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October, Joe Duggan writes. His son Salim Hammad, a doctor from Oxford, said: “Unfortunately he’s not been able to get out today despite being on the list. I don’t know whether it’s problems at the Egyptian side. He’s there with the United Nations and all the people that were on the list ended up going to the border, but they shut the border before processing them through. My dad rang me at around 3.30pm [Gaza time] saying ‘Right, they’ve told us it’s green light, time to go’. They went to the border, which is only five minutes away. At that point, they shut the border and said, ‘Sorry, no one else’.” Read his full account here. Mo El-Deeb, the son of a British-Palestinian couple stranded in Gaza, also said his parents had also travelled to the Rafah border but were forced to travel back to central Gaza once they realised their names were also missing from the list. He told i: “[My parents] are playing a game of probability, it’s a game of potluck. The longer they are there, the more chance there is of them losing their lives.” Read that story here. Labour MP Jess Phillips also wrote about her frustration on the issue, saying: “My constituents telling me that they have not got out today and don’t think any British Nationals have. Some clarity on this would be helpful. To date the FCDO have not responded to our correspondence which was sent first on 24th October.”

Are more likely to come through today? There are estimated to be around 200 British nationals in Gaza, but it is unclear as to how many will be on the list to cross the border today. According to Facebook post by the Rafah border authority, the crossing will reopen from 7am local time today. The FCDO said it would be informed in advance when those on the list can use the crossing. Those who do get through will be given medical assistance if needed and help arranging flights home.

Around the world

 Medical students and retired doctors are being asked to join Gaza’s hospitals as the medical system continues to collapse, aid workers have said. The Ministry of Health has released a “call to arms” for urgent help at overwhelmed hospitals in Gaza, according to aid agencies CARE and Medical Aid for Palestinians.

Josh Paul, a veteran US State Department official who oversaw the transfer of arms to partners and allies including Israel, had a draft resignation letter in his drawer for years “ready to pull out and sign the day I needed it”. That day came on 18 October, when he quit his job after 11 years, for what he said were a number of reasons.

Prosecutors have accused former crypto boss Sam Bankman-Fried of deceit and claim he repeatedly lied to customers, as his US fraud trial draws to a close. Prosecutors say he precipitated the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, by stealing billions of dollars from customers, charges which he denies.

The ‘Mona Lisa of manuscripts’ — a 15th-century prayer book produced by numerous artists — is to be restored after undergoing a high-tech analysis before an exhibition in 2025. “The restoration must give the manuscript back its splendour” the Musée Condé in the Château de Chantilly said in a statement.

The Pentagon has launched an online reporting tool for encounters with unidentified anomalous phenomena, also known as UFOs. At the moment only current or former federal employees are eligible to use the secure form, but an option for the public to submit reports is coming soon, officials say.

 Watch out for…

 Elon Musk and Rishi Sunak, who are hosting a livestreaming event following the AI safety summit, this evening.  

 Thoughts for the day

 My colleagues in Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital have witnessed sheer horror – and they’re running out of time. Life-saving equipment like mechanical ventilators and dialysis machines could soon cease to function, warns Dr Omar Abdel-Mannan.

Helen MacNamara’s testimony will be Boris Johnson’s reputational tombstone. Johnson liked to claim that he got “the big calls right” during Covid. Nothing could be further from the truth, says Ian Dunt.

What Dominic Cummings fails to understand about misogyny. Cummings’s cursing, to his mind at least, is just the way he communicated high feelings towards men and women, points out Anne McElvoy.

Culture Break

 David Hockney, National Portrait Gallery review: Revels in sexuality – and not just Harry Styles’s. The 86-year-old genius’s new show Drawing from Life is not his best work – but it has moments of magnificence, writes Hettie Judah.

The Big Read

 Inside Rishi Sunak’s HS2 chaos: How cancellation will mean slower trains and service cuts. New legal, technical and financial challenges are emerging as the dust settles on the decision to scrap the northern leg of HS2, reports Richard Vaughan.

Sport

 Four reasons the Lionesses’ Olympic dream is unravelling with Team GB set to miss out on Paris. England’s Nations League defeat to Belgium leaves qualification out of their hands, writes Katherine Lucas.

Something to brighten your day

 ‘I sexted my elderly neighbour’: 10 people share their most embarrassing WhatsApp mistakes. There is nothing to age you a decade or two like the stress of sending an incriminating message to the wrong person. Here, i hears about the moments that still haunt senders.