Gaza strip – It was a much anticipated family reunion. In October, Reem Rasmi traveled from her home in Egypt to the Gaza Strip to visit her sister’s family after five years. His nephew was getting married and it was time to celebrate.
A month later, this 55-year-old woman finds herself stuck in the besieged enclave, displaced by the war which broke out on October 7 and which prevented her from returning to her husband and children remaining in Egypt. For Rasmi, an Egyptian national, the dilemma is twofold: even if she manages to cross the Rafah border, she will have to leave her sister’s family behind, amid Israel’s incessant bombings.
“I was supposed to leave on October 10 and I’m still waiting,” she said. “I’ve never experienced a war like this before, with explosions everywhere. I can’t even describe the level of terror we are in.
Rasmi and her sister’s family were forced to flee their sister’s home in the al-Zaytoun neighborhood east of Gaza City to another relative’s house in the southern town of Khan Younis, due to bombing. She said her husband and children constantly asked her if she had heard from Rafah border authorities about when she would be able to cross the border. She doesn’t have a firm answer to give them.
“My children are consumed with fear and anxiety, and I can’t reassure them that I’m okay because they’re watching the news on TV,” she said. “The images show the horror and the displacement of populations in this war. Sometimes even I can’t figure out what’s going on.
The Rafah crossing is the only exit point for Palestinians and foreign nationals. It has been bombed repeatedly by Israel and is completely closed to those wishing to enter Gaza from the Egyptian side.
Egypt said it would help ensure the evacuation of around 7,000 foreigners and dual nationals from the Gaza Strip. On November 1, the exit border post was finally opened after several weeks, but only for the evacuation of foreigners and dual nationals, and the coordinated transfer of dozens of injured Palestinians.
A daily list lists Gazans who have been allowed to leave. The list is verified by Israel. Hundreds of people who flocked to the crossing over the past week were prevented from leaving. Among them is Rasmi.
“I am experiencing the most difficult days of my life under the bombings,” she said. “Luck is not on my side.”
“We have the right to leave”
An estimated 50,000 dual nationals living in the Gaza Strip hold both Palestinian and Egyptian citizenship, according to Alaa al-Din Obeid, a member of the Egyptian Community Cultural Center in Gaza.
“There are 8,000 Egyptian women married to Palestinians, and these mothers can pass their citizenship directly to their children but not to their husbands,” Obeid said, speaking from Rafah.
Palestinians with an Egyptian grandmother can also obtain Egyptian citizenship through a court decision, he added.
Obeid said that before the war, the Egyptian Community Cultural Center was in the process of gathering information for an updated census.
“This is why it is difficult to know exactly how many Egyptian Palestinians with dual nationality managed to leave the country via Rafah,” he said, adding that their number is estimated at 300.
On the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, some Palestinian Egyptians question whether Egyptian authorities are doing enough to help them leave.
Khalida Hassan said she and her four children have been waiting at the terminal since it opened more than a week ago.
“We saw death with our own eyes,” said the 45-year-old. “Every day we hand over our passports and our bags are confiscated and we wait to cross to the Egyptian side, but they continue to close the border and give us back our bags and documents. »
“We all hold foreign passports, so there should be no difference between having an Egyptian or American passport,” she added.
Hassan, who has lived in Gaza all her life, said her home was bombed and she was forced to flee to the south, where there is no water or electricity.
“When will I leave Gaza? Are they expecting my children and I to die here? We all have the right to leave the passage,” she said.
Those who managed to cross the border have mixed emotions.
Mohammed Dahman, 36, holds an Egyptian passport and was finally able to leave the country through the Rafah crossing last week with his pregnant wife and two children.
“I left my home in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City, which contained all my memories with my family, and under bombardment I fled to Khan Younis to stay with my friends,” he said. he declares. “The idea of being displaced is difficult to accept, because I didn’t want to leave the city I love. »
Dahman decided to leave because he saw how much his young children were suffering.
“When as a father you cannot provide comfort and security to your children, you must make the difficult decision to leave,” he said. “My children kept shaking in my arms when I held them at night.”
Dahman and his family traveled daily to the Rafah crossing for a week, waiting long hours before returning defeated to Khan Younis. Traveling to and from Rafah was a danger in itself, and he struggled every day to find a driver willing to take his family there.
Eventually, the Dahman family was able to cross the border into Egypt, where they now reside in Cairo.
“It’s not an easy thing to be in a safe place and constantly worry about those you left behind during the bombings,” he said. “I hope we can return to Gaza soon and that everyone I know there survives. »
