{"id":256962,"date":"2024-03-11T12:00:55","date_gmt":"2024-03-11T12:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=256962"},"modified":"2024-03-11T06:03:46","modified_gmt":"2024-03-11T06:03:46","slug":"desperate-to-escape-gaza-carnage-palestinians-are-forced-to-pay-exorbitant-fees-to-enter-egypt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/03\/desperate-to-escape-gaza-carnage-palestinians-are-forced-to-pay-exorbitant-fees-to-enter-egypt\/","title":{"rendered":"Desperate to Escape Gaza Carnage, Palestinians Are Forced to Pay Exorbitant Fees to Enter Egypt"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Palestinians arrive at the border crossing to Egypt in Rafah, Gaza Strip, on 13 Nov 2023.\u00a0 Photo: Hatem Ali\/AP<\/p><\/div>\n

With almost no options for escape, people in Gaza are increasingly paying thousands of dollars to fixers connected to the Egyptian government. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

7 Mar 2024<\/em> – Alaa Shatila and<\/span> her family had been sheltering at a hospital in southern Gaza for 40 days when they made the decision. Their house and accessories shop in Gaza City had long been flattened by Israeli warplanes. They had survived an airstrike in Rafah in October and moved to Khan Younis. But even in their new refuge, the European Hospital, they could feel the bombings getting more and more intense. It was time to leave Gaza. They needed to find a way out. These days, that\u2019s almost impossible.<\/p>\n

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In most cases, it takes having a foreign passport to be evacuated from Gaza into neighboring Egypt, though some people with serious injuries are sometimes allowed to exit as well. As Israel threatens to invade Rafah, where more than 1 million people from across Gaza have been displaced<\/a>, Palestinians are increasingly desperate to get out. With no other options, they are turning to unofficial channels instead: paying what is known as a \u201ccoordination\u201d fee for a travel permit. These days, that can cost $5,000 to $7,500 per person \u2014 an exorbitant markup of the prewar cost of $250 to $600.<\/p>\n

Shatila\u2019s family estimates that they need \u00a330,000, or about $38,000, to pay the travel fees for six people. Having lost everything during the war, they don\u2019t have anything close to that kind of money. So like many others in Gaza, they are now reluctantly raising funds online<\/a> to support their escape.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven affording the basics now is beyond our means here,\u201d said Shatila, whose sister urgently needs medical care after being injured in an airstrike. They launched a crowdfunding campaign, with the help of another sister who lives outside of Gaza \u2014 out of hopes that they can someday soon \u201csleep without fear or anxiety and wake up without the sound of warplanes and missiles,\u201d Shatila said.<\/p>\n

Palestinians who are able to scrape together the money pay the fees to a travel agency, which takes a commission before sending the remainder to officials in Egypt with connections<\/a> to the state intelligence agency, according to people in Gaza with knowledge of the process. Within 10 days, the traveler\u2019s name appears on a \u201ccoordination register<\/a>,\u201d separate from the official Gaza government register<\/a> \u2014 allowing the traveler swift processing at the border. Mada Masr, an independent Egyptian news outlet, reported<\/a> in a detailed investigation last month that a well-connected businessman with close ties to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is running the show.<\/p>\n

Officials in both Gaza and Egypt have denied the existence of a system to collect fees from would-be travelers. \u201cWe have nothing to do with imposing any fees on citizens for travel, and we listen to complaints, but we do not have any authority in this matter,\u201d an official on the Hamas-controlled side of the crossing told<\/a> Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper. An Egyptian intelligence official, meanwhile, asked<\/a> Palestinians to \u201cnotify the Egyptian security authorities at the crossing if they are blackmailed or under pressure from anyone profiting from their case.\u201d<\/p>\n

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People sit in the waiting area at the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip before crossing into Egypt on 1 Nov 2023. <\/span> Photo: Majdi Fathi\/NurPhoto via AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s an open<\/span> secret in Gaza that travel agencies coordinate with Egyptian authorities to buy passage for people seeking to leave the Gaza Strip. The process dates back to at least 2015, according to an employee of a Gaza travel agency, who spoke to The Intercept on condition of anonymity. By that point, Gaza had been under a punishing Israeli blockade that was reinforced by Egypt for nine years. The prolonged closure of the Rafah border crossing (which continues to this day) meant that people waited for months for government permission to leave the Gaza Strip, giving rise to coordinators who facilitated travel permissions for about $3,000, the travel agency source said.<\/p>\n

The Hamas-run government has long officially opposed<\/a> the practice, which is illegal<\/a>, but it is commonplace nonetheless. \u201cThe government used to require some travel agencies that had worked in coordination, to sign an agreement stating that if they were caught breaking the rules again, their business would be shut down,\u201d the employee said. \u201cThen the government turned a blind eye.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Gazan youth who face travel restrictions to Egypt, paying the fee has long been one of the only ways out: a path to medical treatment, an education, or better economic opportunities abroad. The coordination fee has fluctuated over time, generally more expensive in the summer than during winter months. In the months preceding the current war, the fee was around $250 to $600, according to the worker and Palestinians who paid such fees last summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Egyptian side determines the coordination fees, but sometimes Gazan coordinators manipulate prices,\u201d the worker said. He added that the local fixers send the money to Egyptian officials through a currency exchange office in Gaza or another cash transfer service.<\/p>\n

For the Egyptian public and others sympathetic with the people of Gaza, the idea of Egyptian officials pocketing thousands of dollars in coordination fees is unforgivable.<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As those prices have skyrocketed in recent months, and as fundraisers for Palestinians hoping to cross into Egypt have proliferated online, the Egyptian government has faced increased scrutiny for its management of the border crossing. Keeping the border closed and ceding to Israeli restrictions on humanitarian aid is controversial enough; for the Egyptian public and others across the Muslim-majority world who are strongly sympathetic with the people of Gaza, the idea of Egyptian officials pocketing thousands of dollars in coordination fees is unforgivable. The Egyptian government, for its part, has continually denied that such an arrangement exists.<\/p>\n

Yet a retired security source who used to work with Egypt\u2019s military intelligence in North Sinai, a province that is near the border with Gaza, confirmed<\/a> to Middle East Eye that there is a network of mediators connected to different parts of the state\u2019s security apparatus who were facilitating the entrance of foreigners from Egypt\u2019s eastern borders.<\/p>\n

In its recent investigation, Mada Masr reported<\/a> that a travel agency called Hala Consulting and Tourism Services, owned by Ibrahim al-Argany, has usurped control of the coordination process, effectively becoming the only agency capable of ensuring travel permits. Human Rights Watch scrutinized Argany\u2019s dealings back in 2022, reporting<\/a> that Hala \u201chas strong links with Egypt\u2019s security establishment and is staffed largely by former Egyptian military officers.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a recent post<\/a>, a Facebook page affiliated with the travel agency advertised prices of $5,000 for adults and $2,500 for those younger than 16.<\/p>\n

\u201cHala agency\u2019s offices in Cairo are overcrowded,\u201d Asil, a Palestinian woman who recently paid $24,000 for her family\u2019s travel, told The Intercept. \u201cThey are willing to pay any amount to get their families out of Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A child is seen in front of a tent as a woman cooks at where displaced Palestinian families took refuge due to the ongoing Israeli attacks in Rafah, Gaza, on 5 Mar 2024.\u00a0 Photo: Abed Zagout\/Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two-thirds of<\/span> people<\/span> in Gaza have been displaced since the start of the war. Most of them, some 1.3 million, are now caught in Rafah, a city in southern Gaza that Israel had declared a safe zone.<\/p>\n

The Shatila family\u2019s displacement journey began in the first week of the war. Residents of Gaza City, they had moved south to Rafah to shelter at a relative\u2019s house. On October 17, they were sleeping when an Israeli air raid struck an adjoining house, wounding all of Shatila\u2019s siblings and father.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuddenly, the house roof fell on us, and a large stone struck my head. I was bleeding from my head and nose, vomiting blood. We were screaming for rescue,\u201d Shatila said. \u201cI didn\u2019t find my eyeglasses and couldn\u2019t see anything to look for my family. I was screaming and calling my family, but I didn\u2019t find them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly three months after launching the fundraising campaign, the family is still stuck in Gaza, having raised just over half the money they need for the six of them to leave the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know we may not raise the whole amount as it\u2019s very high, hoping it goes down soon,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Hana Khater, another Gaza resident whose family was displaced by Israeli bombings, fled to Egypt after paying $6,000 per person. Asking to be identified by a pseudonym for safety reasons, she said she and her family took shelter in Khan Younis when the war erupted. A week later, the city came under intense bombing.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of a sudden, a huge missile hit a neighboring building. Stones and windows fell on us,\u201d she said. Everyone inside was injured, and her mom took a particularly hard hit to the back. Their faces were covered in dust, their clothes torn as they screamed for help. \u201cThe scary blaring sirens of ambulances added to the chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the attack, they took shelter in an office where they had little access to food or clean drinking water.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe polluted water and food made me sick, but we didn\u2019t have any choice,\u201d Khater recounted. \u201cWe used to eat one meal to save food. We couldn\u2019t take a shower or wash our clothes daily. Then things got worse and worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unbelievable to pay $36,000 to travel.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Since October 7, her family had debated whether to leave Gaza. Her father was opposed at first, fearing another Nakba, or catastrophe, an Arabic word that is commonly used to describe the events of 1948, when armed Zionist militias forcibly expelled 750,000 Palestinians<\/a> from their lands and established the state of Israel.<\/p>\n

By early December, they made up their minds. On December 5, they paid the fees, and five days later, the six of them exited the strip through the Rafah crossing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unbelievable to pay $36,000 to travel. One has to sell all his belongings to pay for coordination,\u201d Khater said.<\/p>\n

The Egyptian government<\/span> is obligated to evacuate its citizens from Gaza, but some have been unable to get out through official channels and turned to coordination instead. The fees for them are considerably lower than those imposed on Palestinians: $1,200 per person, according to one Egyptian national who has gone this route.<\/p>\n

Yasmine Khaled, a Palestinian from Gaza who asked to be identified by a pseudonym, tried to travel to Egypt on October 10 with her family, as her mother is Egyptian. As they waited in Rafah for a bus to cross into Egypt, travelers were instructed to seek shelter as Israel was preparing to bomb the crossing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey bombed the crossing with three missiles. There wasn\u2019t any place to hide. You can\u2019t imagine the crying and horrors. The situation was very difficult. Then we were told to stay until the next day to travel. We stayed awake in the crossings,\u201d Khaled told The Intercept.<\/p>\n

Her family, along with hundreds of other people, were prevented from crossing by Egypt and had to go back to Gaza. They moved from shelter to shelter four times before finding somewhere to settle, an overcrowded house in Khan Younis, where several U.N. employees were residing with their families.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were around 80 people, including infants and children, in the house. We didn\u2019t have water for most of the time and we had to line up to use the bathroom,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n