The number of Aussies/permanent residents/their family members who have been able to leave the Gaza Strip and cross the border into Egypt has doubled. Thirty-one people got out of the war zone early yesterday, making it the largest single group of Aussies to leave the Palestinian territory since Israel’s war on Hamas began. A total of 62 individuals have now left Gaza – a couple of weeks ago, reports said 85 people were registered with Australian officials as wanting to leave. Meanwhile, 28 premature babies were also evacuated from Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital to Egypt overnight. And in eastern Ukraine, it has been reported that Aussie Army veteran Matthew Jepson was killed in a Russian artillery strike last month. Jepson (known as Jeppo, of course…) was serving in a foreign mercenary unit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. There are no official numbers on Aussies serving in Ukraine, but previous estimates have pointed to as many as 200.