At the Egyptian border, a travel agency pays for the border crossing

To reach Egypt, many Gazans trapped in the enclave are forced to pay exorbitant sums to Egyptian travel agencies that take them across the border.

In Gaza, there is a very specific cost of living… which was determined this weekend by an Egyptian travel agency. This organization, along with others, proposes a legal exit from the Gaza Strip through the Egyptian border. Except for humanitarian or diplomatic actions, this single exit door has so far been double-locked. It is a service for the richest: a passage permit costs 4,600 euros. An obvious way to make money from war victims.

Asia is one of the Gazans who left the enclave because of her Egyptian passport. Since this weekend, she has been hosting a Palestinian family in Cairo who, on the other hand, had to pay a high price to leave Gaza: “There are five of them, they paid about $42,000 to get out. There, they waited about a month for their names to appear.”

“I don’t have this money in cash”

The family passed through an intermediary in Gaza. But as of Saturday evening, this border price has become official: the Egyptian agency is offering a price per adult and child. In Rafah, Khaled tries to raise money for a total of seven people: “They opened it for Palestinians, the price was $3,000 (for an adult) and $1,500 for a child. The next day, the price doubled. In my case it became $5,000. J “I’m trying to find money. I am not. This money is not in cash. Their process is complicated, you have to pay in Egypt.”

Despite the difficulties, for several days there has been a queue in front of the agency in question in Cairo: Hala. Close to Egyptian intelligence, he paid for entrances and exits before the war. So she raised her prices and resumed her activity. Ahmed Benchemsi, Middle East Advocacy Director for Human Rights Watch, recalls: “We published a report two years ago, in which many Palestinians said that in order to get out of Rafah, surely it was necessary to grease the claws of the Egyptian authorities. So this practice is not new.”

“But, today, the situation, one imagines, is a hundred times, a thousand times worse. There are about a million internally displaced people in Rafah, A plea from the Middle East Advocacy Director for Human Rights Watch. In the pure logic of supply and demand, as reported by press investigations, it is conceivable that the price of bribes demanded by Egyptian officials has increased significantly. More and more Gazans want to leave the enclave. But most of them are destitute.