Nasser Alshanti had hoped to reunite with his daughter and her family who had fled Gaza.
But days after Yosra Alshanti, 25, crossed the Rafah border into Egypt with her two young daughters, aged six and three and a half, and her husband Ibrahim Taha, 33, on Friday, their hopes were dashed, one after the other.
“We went far with our hope that Yosra could be with us on Sunday or Monday morning,” Alshanti told Al Jazeera dejectedly, then laughed softly.
The family – all British citizens except Taha – were due to fly to the UK after reaching the Egyptian capital Cairo, with British authorities assuring Alshanti that Taha would receive special permission to enter the Kingdom -United, said the Manchester-based university professor.
But once they arrived in Cairo by bus, and after enduring three weeks of Israeli bombardment following Hamas’s attack on Israel, the family learned that such permission was not available for Taha.
“The British government misled us,” Alshanti said, adding that he cried on the phone with his daughter once he heard the news.
Taha was allowed a 72-hour stay in Egypt, which ended on Monday, while his return to Gaza, a war zone, is out of the question. The Rafah border remains closed to those seeking to enter the blockaded territory, open only to foreign nationals and seriously injured Palestinians exiting – and the family has no desire to be divided.
As they remain in limbo in Egypt, Yosra told her father it would have been better to stay in Gaza, where Israeli attacks have killed more than 10,000 people and injured 25,000 others, with people fleeing for their lives under aerial bombardments and ground attacks.
“It is better for us to stay in Cairo, even on the streets, protesting in front of the British embassy to bring us back to Gaza, rather than coming to the UK alone and leaving my husband,” Yosra told Alshanti. he said.
The worried father desperately tries to help from abroad.
“We saved them from one crisis and plunged them into another crisis,” he lamented.
Throw them ‘into the street’
Staff at the British Embassy in Cairo asked the family to apply for Taha’s visa to the United Kingdom through normal visa procedures, Alshanti said.
Even though the British government is advising its nationals and their dependents to leave Gaza, fleeing people who require a visa will need one before traveling to the United Kingdom, according to the British Home Office.
“We are happy that the Rafah crossing is now reopened. We remain in contact with British nationals in the region to provide them with the latest information,” a spokesperson for the British Home Office told Al Jazeera in a statement. “The situation remains complex and difficult and we are using all diplomatic channels to press for British nationals and humanitarian aid to pass safely through the crossing.”
But when the family learned they had to apply for a visa, they were disheartened, as the information was contrary to what British authorities had promised Alshanti, he said.
The regular visa process can take several weeks – if approved – and requires several documents that Taha does not have on him, Alshanti explained.
The family fled with almost no belongings as they hurriedly left their home in northern Gaza in accordance with Israeli evacuation orders, he added.
On Monday, British authorities also told the family that they must now cover their own stay in Cairo, according to a WhatsApp voice recording heard by Al Jazeera and which Alshanti said came from a staff member at the British Embassy.
British authorities had put the family up in a hotel for the first three nights but would not be able to cover the “additional” nights, the employee said in the recording.
But the family fled to Egypt with just $100, after spending most of their money to protect themselves from the war, Alshanti said.
“Now they will throw Yosra with the children into the street,” he lamented.
After leaving their hotel on Monday, Yosra and her family spent several hours in a cafe while Alshanti rushed from afar to find accommodation for her family.
He managed to accommodate the family in the apartment of a friend in Cairo, where the young family is now waiting.
“Treat us like animals”
On Monday, the family submitted a visa application based on a recommendation made by the UK Home Office to the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), after receiving no support from the British Embassy in Cairo, Alshanti said.
The application, a copy of which Al Jazeera has seen, brings together parents and their children who are British citizens living in the UK.
Even though the family has lived in Gaza for seven years and even though they do not have all the documents required for the visa, they hope the application will be approved, Alshanti said.
The lecturer covered the costs of the visa, having paid $2,330 for the application itself, according to the copy seen by Al Jazeera, and about $2,230 more to speed up the process, he said.
Britain’s Home Office told Alshanti it would aim to process Taha’s request within 48 hours, it said on Tuesday.
But Alshanti is not sure everything will work out so easily – because since the war began, nothing has happened, he said.
He has followed events in the Gaza Strip in recent weeks with apprehension, wondering when it will be safe for his daughter and her family to get out.
Alshanti is frustrated by the British government’s treatment of his family, saying British citizens have the right to be supported when fleeing war.
“They treat us like animals, as Israel has classified us,” the desperate father said, referring to comments made by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant when announcing a complete siege of Gaza in early October. “They don’t treat us like humans.”