AFPPalestinians with dual nationality arrive at the Rafah crossing
NOS Nieuws•gisteren, 6.37pm
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Joey Frankhuisen
online editor
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Joey Frankhuisen
online editor
Corrupt traders believed to have links to Egyptian intelligence are charging thousands of euros to desperate Gazans hoping to leave the area via the Rafah border crossing. The Guardian reports this after conversations with several Palestinians who have had contact with these “fixers”. Palestinians in the Netherlands who are trying to get their families out of Gaza have also had contact with such traffickers, one Palestinian involved told NOS.
According to the United Nations, 85% of all Palestinians in Gaza are currently internally displaced. UN Secretary-General Guterres had previously said, like many human rights organizations, that nowhere in Gaza is safe. But escaping from the Gaza Strip is practically impossible; Egypt opens its only border gate with Gaza only for humanitarian aid convoys, ambulances full of seriously injured people and the evacuation of people with foreign passports.
NOSA map of the Gaza Strip, with the Rafah border crossing to the south, the only border crossing not guarded by Israel
And so Gazans look for other ways to escape the area. According to The Guardian, a network of intermediaries has been operating in Cairo for years. They probably have contacts with the Egyptian secret services and are asking Gazans for money to put them on the list to leave Gaza via Rafah. Al Jazeera had already talked about this network in 2016.
Higher amounts
But since the outbreak of the war this network has been asking for much more money for a place on the list. For example, a man living in the United States told the Guardian that he had to pay 9,000 dollars (about 8,200 euros) to involve his wife and her children. On the day his family was scheduled to leave, he was told that his children were not on the list. He had to pay another $3,000.
The British newspaper says it has spoken to multiple Palestinians who wanted to flee Gaza or to people who have relatives to whom this applies. They each had to pay between $5,000 and $10,000 for a place on the list.
Why is the Rafah border so important? And why doesn’t Egypt open that border to Palestinian refugees? This is explained in this video:
Rafah explained: What makes this border crossing important
A Palestinian living in the Netherlands is currently in Egypt. From there he tries to bring his family, stuck in Gaza, across the border. This includes his father, mother, sister and brother.
His family lived in the northern Gaza Strip, but their house was hit by a bombing. Most of his family fled to Rafah, southern Gaza.
Only option
The Dutch Ministry of Defense only helps people with a Dutch residence permit and their family members in evacuating from Gaza via the Rafah border. “My family doesn’t meet the requirements. The only option is to pay those intermediaries,” says the man, who wishes to remain anonymous for security reasons.
He also had contact with such traders. They asked him 7 thousand euros per adult to be included in the list. “It’s a very difficult situation. I want my family to be safe, but I don’t want to contribute to a system that makes money off of hurt, traumatized and hungry people.”
Furthermore, according to him, paying those thousands of euros does not mean that one’s name will immediately appear on the list. “The question is whether the person you are in contact with is honest. I know someone who transferred 5,000 euros to take his sick mother across the border, after which the contact person disappeared from the face of the earth.”
In other cases, it can sometimes take weeks before people are actually on the list, he continues. “Meanwhile the war continues and at any moment you can know that your family has been killed.”
The man says these middlemen take advantage of desperate people. “If your family were there, you would do anything to get them out,” he says frustrated. Social media posts about the Rafah border crossing include many responses from people seeking contact with intermediaries who can put their name or that of their family on the list. Many of them have started a crowdfunding campaign to raise money.
“High level corruption”
Mohannad Sabry, a journalist and Sinai expert, states in the Guardian article that this trade can only happen because of high-level corruption. According to the Arab Maurits Berger this is plausible. “If only people with foreign passports can leave Gaza, embassies must submit a list to the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On it they list the people they want to evacuate from Gaza via Rafah.”
Then a name could be added to the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ list, Berger says. “And one Egyptian official seems willing to turn a blind eye.”
2024-01-09 17:37:54
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