CAIRO - As the Rafah border has become a flashpoint between Egypt and Israel, the nearly 100,000 Gazans who managed to exit to Cairo and other Nile Valley cities consider themselves fortunate.
“I know I am one of the lucky ones,” said Karim Adel, a 35-year-old shopkeeper from Khan Yunis. He secured a medical evacuation just after troops of the IDF’s 98th Division withdrew following four months of combat in the second-largest urban area in the strip.
A bullet from intense fighting between Hamas fighters and Israeli soldiers struck Adel’s left foot in late March, causing a fracture that left him unable to walk.
“The staff at Al-Amal Hospital registered my name on the list on a computerized system shared with the Egyptian Health Ministry,” Adel told The Media Line. “Thank God they decided to send me for treatment at the Assiut University Medical Center.” The hospital is located about 240 miles south of Cairo.
Adel explained that a security screening and family status evaluation occurred before his evacuation.
“I’m not married and although my parents complain to me about this, I think this is one of the reasons I was allowed in,” Adel told The Media Line.
“Egyptian conditions permit the injured or sick person to be accompanied by only one companion, and this happens only after Israeli approval for both evacuees is secured. In my case, they allowed my sister to accompany me here for treatment.”
“We were obliged to sign forms pledging to return to Gaza as soon as my treatment was completed, and to observe certain conditions on our movements in Egypt, as well as restrictions on our communications with anyone other than our family members still stuck in this horrible war.”
However, Egypt’s notorious bureaucracy and severe economic crisis challenge the recent arrivals from Gaza.
For historical and political reasons, neither the UN High Commissioner for Refugees nor the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees can assist them. Palestinian Authority representatives report they are currently seeking alternative solutions with local and international nonprofit organizations.
Diab Al-Louh, the Palestinian ambassador in Cairo, said nearly 100,000 citizens entered Egypt from Gaza before Israeli forces moved into Rafah and began operations in the Philadelphi Corridor, along the 7.9-mile border between Gaza and Egypt.
“Of course, our primary focus is on the difficult and deadly situation inside Gaza,” Ambassador Al-Louh told the Media Line, “But we are doing everything we can to improve conditions for our people in Egypt, including their needs for food, housing, and job opportunities to continue their lives here.”
An uncertain future
“Given that returning to Gaza in the near future is now technically impossible, we requested the Egyptian authorities to grant Gazans residency permits for at least six months to address their essential needs.”
The wartime arrivals need valid residence permits to gain admission to schools and universities, open bank accounts and receive remittances, and qualify for economic assistance and job placement from the few local NGOs that are marshaling financial aid, providing psychological support, and finding job opportunities for Gazans who have made it out since October.
“I had just started my third year of medical school at Al-Azhar University in Gaza when the war began,” said 21-year-old Samir Al-Ghazawi. “Shortly after airstrikes started hitting the campus, my uncle, who was already living in Egypt, worked to get our family on the waiting list organized by the Hala agency. This list helps Palestinians who are able to find $5,000 per adult for each individual to cross.”
“All our savings were used to pay this agency for the exit procedures and bus ride to Zagazig (a city of 550,000 people about 40 miles northeast of Cairo). My mom, dad, and three brothers are staying in our uncle’s family’s apartment.”
Critics of the Egyptian government and independent news outlets, including the investigative Mada Masr website, have raised concerns about the Hala Agency’s exorbitant fees and monopolistic practices over the movement of people and goods at the Rafah Crossing.
The Hala “travel agency” and Sons of Sinai logistics firm are both run by Ibrahim al-Argany, a prominent figure in the north of the peninsula who in less than a decade rose from leader of a Bedouin tribal battalion, paid to support the Egyptian military’s anti-terrorism efforts, to one of Egypt’s most influential businessmen.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi appointed al-Argany a member of the Sinai Development Authority in 2022 after Defense Minister Mohamed Ahmed Zaki approved it. Argany managed to establish near-absolute control over various businesses in Sinai, including everything related to the Rafah crossing.
Hala’s clients, however, are mostly concerned about their lack of integration into Egyptian society.
“We’ve been here for six months now, and the authorities still haven’t issued us the legal residency permit. Until I get that, I’m not even allowed to apply for admission to the medical faculties at Egyptian universities,” Gazan student Al-Ghazawi told the Media Line.
Egypt is providing significant food and medical aid for the Gaza Strip, advocating for Palestinians in international forums, and acting as a mediator in hostage and ceasefire negotiations.
However, President El-Sisi announced at the start of the conflict that he would not support a large-scale evacuation of Gazan civilians into Egypt.
For security hard-liners like former Egyptian Deputy Interior Minister Mohamed Najm, their wariness of Palestinian Islamists among the Gaza population is combined with suspicion of Israeli intentions for the territory.
“Granting permits to the Palestinians will open the door for more Gazans to leave Arab lands, encourage immigration from the Gaza Strip, and thus contribute to the implementation of the Israeli plan aimed at displacing these people from their land,” Najm told The Media Line.
Moreover, he added, “Any measure encouraging Palestinian immigration to Egypt will pose political, security, and economic burdens on Egyptian society.”
Palestinian children in Egypt
Meanwhile international humanitarian agencies say Palestinian children who escaped the war in Gaza and sought refuge in Egypt are haunted by the horrors they experienced.
“They are struggling with nightmares, anger, bedwetting, and anxiety. Save the Children is calling for an urgent increase in mental health and psychosocial support for these children,” said Laila Toema, a psychologist who works as a mental health and psychosocial support technical advisor for Save the Children in Egypt.
Save the Children is working with Egyptian authorities to provide essential services for displaced Palestinians including cash assistance, support to cover medical costs and mental health and psychosocial support.
Egypt’s Ministry of Health and Population announced on May 4 that over 10,628 psychological support sessions have been provided to 927 injured Palestinians since the beginning of the war, or more than 10 sessions per person.
Some local nonprofits are taking on new Palestinian clients and embodying the widespread support for their cause in the Egyptian street.
“I have been deeply moved by the distressing images and videos of the war in Gaza, which has motivated me to take action and provide assistance to the victims,” stated Heba Rashed, executive director of Mersal Foundation.
The foundation primarily focuses on providing aid to the 450,000 Sudanese refugees who have fled to Egypt since the country descended into civil war again last year.
“Although the evacuees from Gaza were fortunate to leave, they are still facing urgent needs such as housing, access to education, job opportunities, and medical care for injuries sustained during the conflict. It’s crucial to highlight that despite their ability to travel, they require immediate assistance to rebuild their lives,” Rashed told The Media Line.
“We provided and supported approximately two thousand students and families by offering crucial health and medical aid, financial assistance, and essential food support. We’ve also extended our help by organizing clothing exhibitions, conducting personalized psychological sessions, and arranging gatherings to aid their integration into Egyptian society,” said Rashed.