Associated Press

RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Hundreds of foreign nationals and dozens of seriously injured Palestinians were allowed to leave Gaza on Wednesday after more than three weeks under siege, while Israeli airstrikes destroyed apartments in a densely populated area for the second straight day.

The first people to leave Gaza — other than four hostages released by Hamas and another rescued by Israeli forces — crossed into Egypt, escaping the territory’s growing misery as bombings drive hundreds of thousands from their homes, and food, water and fuel run low. It remained unclear how many more people would be allowed to leave Gaza in coming days.

The latest strikes in the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp near Gaza City demolished multi-story apartment buildings, and dozens of men afterward dug through the rubble, searching for survivors, according to footage from Al-Jazeera television, one of the few media outlets still reporting from northern Gaza. It showed several wounded people, including children, being brought to a nearby hospital.

The strikes killed and wounded many people, the Hamas-run government said, but the exact toll was not yet known.

The toll was also unknown from Tuesday’s strikes on buildings in the same camp, though the director of a nearby hospital said hundreds were killed or wounded. Israel said those strikes destroyed military tunnels beneath the buildings and killed dozens of Hamas fighters, including a senior commander involved in the militants’ bloody Oct. 7 rampage that ignited the war.

In a sign of increasing alarm over the war among Arab countries, Jordan on Wednesday recalled its ambassador from Israel and told Israel’s ambassador to remain out of the country. Jordan, a key U.S. ally, signed a peace deal with Israel in 1994.

Jordan’s deputy prime minister, Ayman al-Safadi, said the return of the ambassadors is linked to Israel “stopping its war on Gaza … and the humanitarian catastrophe it is causing.” He warned that the conflict could spread and threaten “the security of the entire region.”

Israeli troops pushed toward Gaza City, the territory’s largest city. Internet and phone service was cut for several hours Wednesday, a replay of the temporary communications blackout when Israeli ground troops first advanced in large numbers into Gaza over the weekend.

Over half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes, and supplies of food, medicine, water and fuel are running low. A territory-wide blackout has left hospitals reliant on generators that could soon be forced to shut down.

The strikes in Jabaliya underlined the anticipated surge in casualties on both sides as Israeli troops advance toward the dense residential neighborhoods of Gaza City. Israeli officials say Hamas’ military infrastructure, including hundreds of miles of underground tunnels, is concentrated in the city, which was home to some 650,000 people before the war.

By mid-afternoon Wednesday, 335 foreign passport holders left Gaza through the Rafah crossing into Egypt, according to Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority.

Seventy-six Palestinian patients, along with their companions, have been evacuated for treatment in Egypt, Abu Omar said. Ten other patients set to be brought out died before they could be evacuated, Dr. Mohamed Zaqout, a Health Ministry official in Gaza, told The Associated Press. The criteria for medical evacuation were not immediately clear.

The authority said the plan was for more than 400 foreign passport holders to leave for Egypt. The White House said it expected a “handful” of American citizens to be among them, and German, French and British officials said their citizens were among the evacuees.