More than 300 Ukrainian citizens are currently in the Gaza Strip and would like to leave its borders, Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Michael Brodsky has said.

"So far, the Ukrainians have not been able to leave, but there is a waiting list of people who want to leave – this is quite a large number of people. As for the Ukrainians... there are more than 300 Ukrainians, mostly women and children, who lived in the Gaza Strip and would like to leave," Brodsky said on the national telethon on Thursday.

According to him, the terrorist organization Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, prevents both Palestinians and foreigners from leaving the Strip, but under pressure from international institutions it has begun to release foreign citizens.

"As for Israel, then we not only do not prevent, but we urge foreign citizens to leave the Gaza Strip. Unfortunately, Hamas is preventing civilians from leaving the Gaza Strip because Hamas uses the civilian population as a human shield... but I hope that common efforts will allow foreign citizens, including citizens of Ukraine, to leave the Gaza Strip," the ambassador said.

According to him, the Ukrainian Embassy compiled lists of citizens to be evacuated, which were handed over to the Israeli and Egyptian (host) sides. In particular, according to Brodsky, Israel has complete information about Ukrainians living in the Gaza Strip.

"As far as I understand, then the departure of Ukrainian citizens from Egypt will be organized. As you know, now the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip is completely closed, a military operation is underway, so the only opportunity to leave the Gaza Strip is through Egypt. This is what has begun to happen," the ambassador said.

At the same time, Brodsky stated that Hamas is preventing the exit, and Egypt does not want to let Palestinians into its territory, "therefore there is a big problem with the civilian population," which is now located mainly in the south of the Gaza Strip.