“They treat us like a bag of money”: a dark network charges thousands of dollars to Gazans fleeing to Egypt

When the first lists of Egyptian citizens authorized to leave Gaza began to be published as part of the evacuation operations for foreigners trapped in the Strip with the start of Israel's military offensive, some people realized that something was not right. A young Gazan, who spoke to EL PAÍS under the condition of anonymity for security reasons, explains that he found, in the middle of the lists, the names of members of wealthy families from Gaza who had no nationality other than Palestinian, a group of citizens who in theory had no right to leave.

In those around him, it soon became an open secret that, despite the official Egyptian policy of keeping the border closed to Gazans – to avoid participating in an ethnic cleansing of the Strip – there was a way to circumvent the veto. “We knew [a aquellas familias] Okay, so we wondered how they got out. And we discovered that the border was open to anyone who had money,” says the young man, who was then in Rafah, in the south of the Strip next to the Egyptian border, after having fled Gaza City with his family following orders. of expulsion from the Israeli army.

The problem was not that they asked him for money to go out. But they were asking for a lot of money: $10,000. Even so, his entire family, after considering his options, decided that it would be best to use his savings so that at least he could leave Gaza and try to help them from the outside. The alternative was to all stay in the Strip, with no future prospects and with his money quickly evaporating due to the high prices in the enclave. It was then that he went to a cold office where they took his name and collected the money. Only 48 hours later, at night, the young man received a call in which he was summoned to appear at the Rafah border crossing at six in the morning.

Once on the Egyptian side of the crossing, the Gazan claims that having spent so much money did not prevent him from being thoroughly investigated by the local authorities, nor from the hours of waiting. Nor having to pay for everything: the visa, the exit form, the luggage, the transportation. “You are guaranteed to be the exception,” he points out, but “you only pay this money to get by,” adds the young man, who finally managed to leave Gaza and is now in an Asian country. “They treat us like a bag of money,” he laments.

Like him, Palestinian citizens of Gaza who want to leave the enclave are forced to pay an opaque network of intermediaries between 4,500 and 11,000 dollars (equivalent to between 4,150 and 10,150 euros) to obtain a permit to enter Egypt, according to three testimonies consulted by this newspaper. To finance this process, many Gazans embark on numerous crowdfunding campaigns through the internet. EL PAÍS was able to verify the existence of more than 100 operations of this type. In most cases, the amounts requested range between $7,000 and $10,000, while for children the amounts can fluctuate between $1,000 and $3,000.

Bribery accusations

The ins and outs of the process and how middlemen in Gaza get those who pay across the border are unclear. But a joint investigation by the Egyptian media Saheeh Masr and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project's (OCCRP) global network of investigative journalists, based on more than a dozen interviews, shows that the ability to quickly obtain approval from Egyptian security services controlling the border give rise to accusations that a system of bribery is oiling the machine.

The president of Egypt's State Information Service, Diaa Rashwan, who acts as official spokesperson, called reports about the collection of fees from travelers at the Rafah crossing “false accusations” in a statement issued in late January. She called on Palestinian citizens to inform the Egyptian authorities present at the border crossing of any attempts or requests to collect illegal fees.

But this opaque network of intermediaries and travel agents with a presence in Egypt and Gaza has been active for years, according to media and human rights groups. When times are calm, they accelerate the entry permit of Gazan citizens to Egypt. And in periods of tension, during which the border may remain closed, they make it possible. Between late 2014 and mid-2018, the Rafah crossing was closed almost every day, crossing data shows, due to Egypt's counterterrorism operations in the turbulent northern Sinai. Since then it has opened steadily. However, in 2016 the Qatari network Al Jazeera It has already documented payments to intermediaries of up to $10,000 by Palestinians from Gaza who wanted to leave the Strip.

According to a report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Since 2018, the departure of people through Rafah is “confusing and opaque” due to the existence of two procedures. On the one hand, the official electronic process, managed through the Ministry of the Interior of the Strip. And on the other, a list coordinated by the Egyptian authorities. The report warned of the payment of bribes in Gaza and Egypt to guarantee travel and a faster response in cases that were processed through the second route.

“In 2022 we publish a report on the occasion of 15 years of the blockade of Gaza, and the difficulties getting out was one of the things we documented. The Israeli authorities have a lot of responsibility, but so do the Egyptian authorities, because they control the Rafah border,” considers Ahmed Benchemsi, director of communications for the Middle East and North Africa at Human Rights Watch (HRW). “From the testimonies we collected we heard that some Egyptian authorities asked Palestinians who wanted to cross for money. Basically, they extorted them,” he says.

Another Gazan, who is still in the Strip and who is trying to get the money to leave the enclave, says that, although he has brothers with brain disorders, the amount that the intermediaries ask of him is also $10,000 per head. “We do not receive any help and we need this coordination to cross Rafah and enter Egypt, but it is very expensive and difficult,” he explains, also requesting anonymity.

“Coordination” is what the role of the intermediaries who make it possible for Palestinians to cross through the Rafah crossing through the unofficial list is locally called. The most prominent intermediary, according to testimonies that have spoken with this newspaper and other investigations, is an Egyptian travel agency called Hala, which according to its Facebook posts has several agents in Gaza and periodically opens registration for Egyptian citizens in the Franja can begin the process to travel.

The company is owned by Ibrahim al Ergany, a businessman close to the highest levels of the Egyptian State and founder of a federation of families and tribes from northern Sinai that since 2017 has collaborated with the Egyptian army and security forces in its anti-terrorist fight in the area, according to the independent Egyptian media Mada Masr. One of his companies, Beni Sinai, was a major beneficiary of Gaza reconstruction plans following Israel's 2021 offensive. And Hala's Cairo address is the same as Beni Sinai's headquarters, it shows your LinkedIn profile.

The third testimony collected by this newspaper, offered by a man who is in Europe trying to get his wife out of Gaza, indicates that
there are other intermediaries who charge less than Hala and can lower the price to $5,000. But this route offers few guarantees. “There are people who do the coordination cheaper, but maybe they are setting a trap for you, maybe it is a lie, or maybe they assign you an assignment,” he explains without elaborating. “If I had $5,000 I would have paid by now, but I don't have that amount yet,” he says.

Once they have crossed the Rafah crossing, the first testimony ensures that the treatment they receive from the Egyptian authorities is generally disastrous. But he assures that the alternative is worse. “He is very tired. I have survived six wars. [Cuando salí] I was disappointed, I only thought that I lost my university, I lost my friends, my job, my career, my future. “He was directing me towards nothing,” he slips. “But nothing was better than dying in war, I am a survivor of a genocide, and anything is better than staying there.”

Follow all the international information on Facebook and xor in our weekly newsletter.

_