Despite escaping the war, Palestinians in Egypt face terrible conditions

After eight months of Israeli war against Gaza, displaced Palestinian Mariam Kamal managed to escape fear of death and destruction and flee to Egypt, hoping to find safety, food and water.

“First I wanted to rest and sleep, eat, drink clean water and shower without any problems,” the 25-year-old, who was an accountant at an advertising company in Gaza before the war, told The new Arab.

When Mariam arrived with three members of her family last April, she felt safe and reassured as there were no bombings, killings or destruction in the area. But her feelings and thoughts were with the rest of her family of 21 who remained in the besieged coastal enclave.

“My family and I had great difficulty adjusting to the new situation (…) For two weeks we could not eat normally, later we gradually started eating again (…) Even as our bodies got used to the new situation, we were sad that our family could not find anything to eat in Gaza,” she recalls. “We thank God that we have escaped death and are no longer in a dangerous place, so we can help the rest of our family to escape Gaza soon.”

But not everything always goes according to plan. “Life in Egypt is not as easy as we thought (…). Everything here requires a lot of effort, time and expense that we can hardly manage, especially since we escaped death without being able to find enough money to live here,” she says.

Expensive rent

To find a home for her family, Mariam contacted a friend who owns an apartment in Egypt and agreed to pay her a monthly rent of $300 (which is somewhat reasonable for her) once she arrived in Egypt.

But after a month in Egypt, the owner of the apartment doubled the price to $600 under the pretext that in the summer, prices in Egypt would double due to the arrival of foreign and Arab tourists. “And that is an advantage that cannot be compensated,” said Mariam.

Mariam decided to rent another apartment; it took weeks until she found one in a suitable area and at a reasonable price.

“But that’s not all,” says Mariam, “the apartment also has many defects, especially air conditioning and the basic amenities necessary for a decent life.”

“Life is much more difficult than we imagined (…) We thought life here would be easier than in Gaza, but compared to what we experienced before October 7, our life there (in Gaza) seemed simpler, less expensive, less stressful and more productive,” she added.

No right of residence for Palestinians in Egypt

Iyad Abdul Jawad, a Palestinian who managed to escape to Egypt with his family of five, can barely meet his family’s daily needs.

“We were shocked by the high prices in Egypt (…) Conditions and life used to be simpler here, but even Egyptian citizens are suffering from the exorbitant prices that make a normal life impossible for them,” the 45-year-old engineer told TNA“I am currently supporting my family with my savings, but I am afraid that if I do not find a suitable job where I can earn money to support my family, these will soon run out.”

Abdel Jawad and other Palestinians in Egypt cannot work without first obtaining an official residence permit from the Egyptian authorities.

“I arrived in Egypt four months ago but have not been able to obtain a residence permit that would allow me to work. This threatens my fate and that of my family, especially since we are considered lawbreakers under Egyptian law,” said Abdel Jawad.

The Egyptian authorities normally allow Palestinians to stay in Egypt for only 45 days. When this period expires, they must return to their place of residence (i.e., the Gaza Strip). But because of the war, Palestinians cannot return to Gaza and they do not even know if they will be able to return in the near future.

The Palestinian embassy in Egypt is trying to issue temporary residency permits to tens of thousands of Palestinians who entered from Gaza during the war, according to Diab al-Louh, the Palestinian ambassador to Egypt. “These permits will ease the situation until the conflict ends,” he said, stressing that the residency permits are for legal and humanitarian purposes only.

So far, there is no official news or developments regarding the granting of residency permits to Palestinians in Egypt.

On the other hand, former Egyptian Deputy Foreign Minister and Ambassador Salah Halima said that the demands of some displaced Palestinians to the Egyptian government to issue them temporary residency permits were “illogical” and “aimed at liquidating the Palestinian issue rather than resolving it.”

He claimed that the idea of ​​expelling the residents of Gaza, whether inside or outside the Strip, is a form of coercive measure under international law, which is not in the interest of the Palestinian state, has a negative impact on the issue and is contrary to international law.

He further said that the Egyptian government takes into account the humanitarian situation of the displaced Palestinians, especially since many of them fled the war without identity papers.

Hope of return

Because Palestinian Ibtisam Al-Alami arrived in Egypt five months ago and did not have a residency permit, she was unable to enroll her three children in an Egyptian public school. She was forced to enroll them in private international schools that charged very high fees of over $5,000 per semester.

“I fled Gaza for the sake of my children’s future. I don’t want them to live in a destroyed place with no life, and I don’t want them to lose their education because of the war,” said the 39-year-old mother of four. TNA.

“I thought we could live here in peace and security and organize our lives, but unfortunately all our dreams were in vain, given the difficulties of life in Egypt in general, not only for foreigners but also for Egyptian citizens,” she said.

What makes things even worse for Al-Alami now are the ongoing power outages, which last an average of three hours at a time. “It looks like the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip will not have electricity anywhere, even if we go to the North Pole,” she said with a sad smile.

Ultimately, everyone who spoke to us TNA They hope to return to the Gaza Strip after the war ends, but expressed fears that there is an Israeli-American plot to prevent them from returning home any time soon.

According to official figures from the Palestinian embassy in Egypt, about 100,000 Palestinians entered through the Rafah crossing before it was occupied by Israel last month. The majority of Palestinians who fled Israel’s war currently live in the country.