Palestinians holding foreign passports arrive at the Rafah border crossing and wait with luggage to cross to the Egyptian side as Israeli attacks continue on Gaza. Photograph: Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty ImagesThe only way for almost all people in the Gaza Strip to escape the horrors of the Israel-Hamas war is by leaving through neighbouring Egypt.
Their father made it to a hospital and survived, but Ghayyda , who left Gaza in 2003, said the episode convinced him he had to evacuate his family at any cost. “I thought I’d go to sleep one night and wake up to the news that my family is gone,” he said. “I felt helpless and hopeless, but I knew I had to do something.”
The New York Times spoke to a dozen people inside and outside Gaza who were either trying to leave the territory or help family members or friends to do so. All but one spoke on the condition of anonymity over fears of retaliation by the Egyptian authorities toward them or their relatives or friends.
Hala charges $5,000 to co-ordinate the exits of most people 16 and older and $2,500 for most who are below that age, according to seven people who have gone through this process or tried to do so. He felt he had no option but to register with Hala. The man, aged 48, has to raise money for his wife and seven children, some of whom have to pay the adult fare. That means he needs $37,500, he said, but he has managed to come up with only $7,330 on GoFundMe so far.Hala makes people go through a complicated bureaucratic process to register their loved ones.
“I help them only when they want to get into the VIP hall, to have breakfast, to be driven to Cairo in a nice BMW, to have a rest stop, and then go on to their destination,” he said. “Our role is to provide the best service possible, that’s it.” On an April visit to a towering tinted glass building in central Cairo that houses Hala’s offices, 40 people were lined up outside with stacks of photocopied documents and bundles of cash in hand.
Cogat, an Israeli defence ministry body that implements government policy in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, declined to comment about what role Israel plays in the movement of Palestinians through the Rafah crossing. Israel has facilitated the exit of foreign and dual nationals from Gaza in co-ordination with Egypt and the United States, according to Cogat’s website.