Foreign nationals in desperate wait to escape war-torn Gaza
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A Palestinian woman with a foreign passport waiting on Oct 14 at the Rafah gate hoping to cross into Egypt.
PHOTO: AFP
RAFAH, Palestinian Territories – When Swiss citizen Ibrahim al-Qarnaoui set off for a short trip to visit family in the Gaza Strip earlier in October, he thought he would be there for a few days.
But after border crossings out of the besieged Palestinian enclave were shut in response to a deadly Hamas attack on Israel just over a week ago, he and other foreign passport holders have been stuck in the territory, currently facing heavy Israeli bombardment.
“The embassy told us yesterday to come to Rafah,” he said of Gaza’s only border crossing not controlled by Israel, which Egypt has kept closed, preventing any Palestinians or foreigners from fleeing.
“But the border crossing did not open,” said the 77-year-old, surrounded by about 30 people with foreign passports in hand waiting near the terminal.
Israel, which controls the other two crossing points into Gaza, has declared a “complete siege” of the coastal enclave, cutting off food, water, fuel and electricity supplies to the territory’s population of about 2.3 million people.
On Sunday, Israel’s energy minister said water supplies had been restored to the south of the enclave.
After news broke last Saturday that the United States reached an agreement with Egypt and Israel to allow American citizens to leave Gaza via Rafah, foreign passport holders flocked to the border crossing.
But thus far, foreign citizens, including Americans, have not been able to pass, amid reports that Egypt will allow them through only once international aid is allowed into Gaza.
Mass displacement
Huge numbers of residents of northern Gaza have amassed in the south of the strip – where the Rafah crossing is located – after Israel warned them to evacuate ahead of an expected ground invasion in retaliation for Hamas’ Oct 7 attack.
Over 1,400 people were killed in Israel in that assault.
The country has responded with unrelenting strikes on the densely populated Gaza Strip, claiming the lives of at least 2,750 people so far.
The United Nations has warned of potentially “devastating” humanitarian consequences from the Israeli evacuation order.
Mr Qarnaoui chose not to risk taking the road back to his family’s home farther north in the Boureij refugee camp, with Israeli strikes continuing in the area.
He managed to find a good Samaritan to take him in for the night and he slept on the floor.
“It was freezing cold. Then one of the residents brought me back to the terminal this morning,” he said.
“Half an hour later, we learnt that their house had just been bombed.”
Despite living in Switzerland for decades, this is not the first time Mr Qarnaoui has been surprised by war while visiting Gaza, which has seen five wars with Israel in 15 years.
“I saw the war in 2008, but it was different. This time, it’s a genocidal war,” he said, as Israel’s ground invasion looms with tens of thousands of troops and military vehicles massed at the border of the territory.
An estimated one million people have been displaced in the first seven days of the conflict in Gaza, the UN agency supporting refugees of the Palestinian Territories said on Sunday.
“If I can’t get out, I’ll go back to the family home, and we’ll all live together or die together,” said Mr Qarnaoui.
Palestinians with dual citizenship waiting outside the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the hope of getting permission to leave Gaza, on Oct 14.
PHOTO: REUTERS
‘Passport worth nothing’
Mr Said al-Hassi was also waiting by the crossing in the hopes of returning to Sweden, which he left three weeks ago to visit family in Rafah.
“Our house is east of the city. We all went west to the coast to move farther away from Israel’s artillery strikes,” he told AFP.
He said he usually feels protected by his Swedish citizenship, but in Gaza, even “a passport is worth nothing against bombings and war”.
“If they drop an atomic bomb on us, at least we’ll die faster than suffocating under the rubble,” Mr Hassi added.
Nearby, Ms Alia Saqallah and other family members have not eaten for at least two days, as food supplies dwindle in the besieged territory.
“We had a few pieces of bread. We left them for the children,” she said.
Beside her, three small suitcases now contain all that remains of their former life in Gaza City’s Rimal neighbourhood, now in ruins. AFP
