The Rafah border crossing point between Egypt and Gaza re-opened on Wednesday, and the first groups of foreign nationals were allowed to leave war-torn Gaza.
Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen (NCP) told Yle on Wednesday that six Finns had left Gaza and arrived on the Egyptian side of the border.
Earlier the head of the Finnish mission in Ramallah on the West Bank, Päivi Peltokoski, had said that the 12 Finns known to be in Gaza would not be able to leave until at least Thursday.
"We have to take it one day at a time. The authorities have not issued any long-term crossing list. The aim is for this to be handled over several days or weeks, with certain groups allowed to cross at certain times each day," she explained.
On Wednesday, officials received surprising information about the remaining Finns.
"Today it turned out that there are actually more Finns there than we thought. There are now 12 Finns who want to leave Gaza," she said.
Valtonon confirmed that number, speaking at the Nordic Council meeting in Oslo.
According to Jussi Tanner, head of consular affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a "significant proportion" of the remaining Finns are small children.
Approaching and crossing the border is risky
According to Peltokoski, the Finns have been in dangerous situations, but are in good health.
"They said they were under bombardment and rocket attacks. There have been rocket attacks everywhere. I can't tell you how many ‘near misses’ there have been,” she said.
Peltokoski said that leaving Gaza is far from easy, let alone safe.
"There are no safe routes or humanitarian corridors in Gaza. The people who have permission to cross the border not all have managed to get to the south," she said.
The exit is made difficult by the lack of fuel. It's hard to find a vehicle in the area that still has petrol. However, the biggest obstacle to crossing the border is security.
Finns cannot leave without first contacting the Finnish Foreign Ministry.
The evacuation is organised with Egyptian and Israeli authorities. Both countries must be given a list of names to approve before foreigners can cross the border. Peltokoski said that all the Finns have been approved.
As a condition of evacuation, foreigners must travel directly to their home countries via Cairo airport, which is about 200 kilometres from the Ramallah border crossing point.
That involves crossing the Sinai Peninsula military zone, which requires a special permit. Finns and other foreigners are to be met at the border by foreign ministry vehicles that take them directly to the airport.
12.24: Corrected first sentence, updated with departure of six Finns.
Users with an Yle ID can leave comments on our news stories. You can create your Yle ID via this link. Our guidelines on commenting and moderation are explained in this article. You can comment on this article until 23:00 on 2 November.