الفلسطينيون اليائسون للفرار من غزة يدفعون آلاف الرشاوى لـ “وسطاء”

Fixers with alleged links to Egyptian intelligence are making a fortune in ‘fees’ from people hoping to exit through the Rafah crossing

Palestinians desperate to leave Gaza are paying bribes to brokers of up to $10,000 (£7,850) to help them exit the territory through Egypt, according to a Guardian investigation.

Very few Palestinians have been able to leave Gaza through the Rafah border crossing but those trying to get their names on the list of people permitted to exit daily say they are being asked to pay large “coordination fees” by a network of brokers and couriers with alleged links to the Egyptian intelligence services.

One Palestinian man in the US said he paid $9,000 three weeks ago to get his wife and children on the list. The family have been sheltering in schools since the 7 October attacks. On the day of travel, he was told his children’s names were not listed and he would have to pay an extra $3,000. He said the brokers were “trying to trade in the blood of Gazans”.

“It’s very frustrating and saddening,” he said. “They are trying to exploit people who are suffering, who are trying to get out of the hell in Gaza.” His family have yet to leave.

According to the UN, 85% of Gaza’s population is now displaced. Most people are packed into the southern city of Rafah as Israeli air and ground assaults push them out of central and northern parts of the territory.

Egypt, a key regional player in negotiations on Gaza, has long resisted opening the Rafah crossing, fearing that millions of people would flee into the neighbouring Sinai peninsula. The influx, Cairo claimed, could pose a security threat. Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, also said a mass influx of refugees from Gaza would set a precedent for displacing Palestinians from the West Bank into Jordan.

A network of brokers, based in Cairo, helping Palestinians leave Gaza has operated around the Rafah border for years. But prices have surged since the start of the war, from $500 for each person.

The Guardian has spoken to a number of people who have been told they would have to pay between $5,000 and $10,000 each to leave the strip, with some launching crowdfunding campaigns to raise the money. Others were told they could leave sooner if they paid more.

Facebook pages that offer news from the Rafah crossing are filled with posts from Palestinians asking for help to get on the list.

Everyone interviewed said they had been put in touch with brokers through contacts in Gaza. Payments are made in cash, sometimes through middlemen based in Europe and the US.

Belal Baroud, a US citizen from Gaza, was told he would need to raise $85,000 to get 11 family members out of the territory, including five children under three.

“I’m only considering this option because the US government is not responding to me. If I had any hope about my father’s case, I wouldn’t be,” said Baroud, who has spent the past three months appealing to the US state department taskforce to put his diabetic father on the exit list.

“I’m in this situation because the US doesn’t want to help its own citizens,” he said.

Baroud’s 70-year-old father was briefly detained in December by Israeli forces. He was one of a group of men who were stripped to their underwear, had their hands zip-tied and were taken to a secret location.

Even before his father’s detention, Baroud had spent weeks seeking help, spending hours on the phone to Washington or the US embassy in Jerusalem and emailing reams of information to the state department.

US state department policy initially specified that it would only assist immediate family of US citizens to exit Gaza but it subsequently said it would expand its assistance to include parents of US citizens and siblings.

“Since mid-December I’ve received no email from them, and I followed up six times – they can only communicate by email,” he said. “By contrast, I see other people who pay money to leave, and they’re able to exit within a day or two.”

The state department said it was unable to comment on individual cases, with a spokesperson adding it was unaware of the broker system that some are using to pay to exit Gaza. “We have assisted over 1,300 US citizens, US lawful permanent residents and family members in departing Gaza,” the spokesperson added.

Mohannad Sabry, an expert on the Sinai peninsula and author of Sinai: Egypt’s Linchpin, Gaza’s Lifeline, Israel’s Nightmare,said the brokers “target the most vulnerable people”.

Palestinians desperate to flee Gaza pay thousands in bribes to ‘brokers’ | Global development | The Guardian

سماسرة المخابرات المصرية.. تقرير خطير للغارديان عن “إتاوات” معبر رفح

 نشرت صحيفة “الغارديان” البريطانية تقريرا مطولا أكدت فيه صحة المعلومات التي تم تداولها خلال الأسابيع الماضية، عن ابتزاز الفلسطينيين الراغبين في الدخول لمصر عبر معبر رفح، وإجبارهم على دفع رشاوى بأرقام كبيرة للعبور ووضع أسمائهم على القوائم.

الصحيفة وفي التقرير الذي أعده “كميل أحمد” و”روث مايكلسون” بعنوان “فلسطينيون يدفعون آلاف الدولارات في محاولة للفرار من الحرب في غزة” قالت إن أعداداً من الفلسطينيين لا يجدون سبيلا للفرار من نيران الحرب في غزة إلا عبر دفع مبالغ تصل إلى 10 آلاف دولار لسماسرة لمساعدتهم على الخروج من القطاع عبر مصر.

ولم يتمكن سوى عدد قليل جداً من الفلسطينيين من مغادرة غزة عبر معبر رفح الحدودي، لكن أولئك الذين يحاولون إدراج أسمائهم على قائمة الأشخاص المسموح لهم بالخروج يومياً يقولون إنه يُطلب منهم “دفع رسوم تنسيق كبيرة من قبل شبكة من السماسرة لها صلات مزعومة بأجهزة المخابرات المصرية”.

متاجرة بدماء الغزيين

وأورد التقرير شهادة لرجل فلسطيني في أمريكا يقول إنه دفع 9 آلاف دولار قبل 3 أسابيع لإدراج زوجته وأطفاله على القائمة، وفي يوم السفر، قيل له إن أسماء أطفاله غير مدرجة وسيتعين عليه دفع مبلغ إضافي قدره 3 آلاف دولار.

وأضاف بأن السماسرة “يحاولون المتاجرة بدماء الغزيين”، معتبراً أن ذلك أمر محبط ومحزن للغاية.

وقال الفلسطيني المتحدث في تصريحاته للغارديان: “يحاولون استغلال الأشخاص الذين يعانون، والذين يحاولون الخروج من الجحيم في غزة”. ولم تغادر عائلته بعد.