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, 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 Belal, 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.
Belal’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, Belal 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”.
“If a family has a member who is injured or sick so they can’t wait, those are the perfect victims; they can squeeze any amount and the family has to come up with the money. It’s a complete racket.” after newsletter promotion
Sabry described the Egyptian authorities’ public justifications for not opening the borders as “cover for the corruption happening on the ground”. The head of Egypt’s State Information Service declined to comment when contacted by the Guardian.
Sabry added: “This is not low-level corruption – this is state-enabled corruption.”
With very few ways to get out of Gaza, especially for those without citizenship of another country, Palestinians in the territory and their relatives abroad said they had little choice but to put their trust in the broker network.
One Palestinian living in the UK, who has lost members of their family in Israeli airstrikes, said: “People are making money off the misery of others. They’re desperate to get out to save their lives and instead of helping they’re trying to make money. If there’s a way to get people out, then why not just help?”
The Palestinian said they were told it would cost $4,000 to help each of the family’s nine young male members to leave in early December. They are now being quoted between $6,000 and $10,000.
The family turned to the brokers after failing to get help from the British government or humanitarian organisations.
“I’m not sure why no schemes have been introduced, nothing to evacuate people. I don’t even hear humanitarians talk about this any more,” the Palestinian said.
“It’s like they’re saying: ‘We’re not going to protect you or give you safety, we’re just going to give you some food and water while you are bombed.’”
The UK Foreign Office said it had evacuated 300 British nationals and their dependants – defined as children and parents – who were its priority.
Not all people are willing to pay, however, even if they have the resources. “Every moment threatens their lives and my life,” said one Palestinian in Gaza trying to get out with their family. But they added: “I won’t pay a penny in bribes.”
