Desperate to escape the war, Palestinians pay a private company thousands to leave Gaza

Early last fall, Amin was packing for his move to Ottawa to start studying business during what would be his first term in university. With a Canadian student visa in hand and a brother already in the country, he dreamed about the opportunities he'd have when he started his new life thousands of kilometres away from his hometown in Gaza.

Then, on Oct. 7, the Hamas-led attack on Israel left 1,200 dead and saw hundreds taken hostage. Israel's responding offensive in Gaza has killed more than 32,552 people as of Thursday, according to the local health ministry. 

With the strip under siege, Amin was trapped. The federal government in Canada was only evacuating Canadians and their immediate family, so his student visa was effectively useless. With no quick options to escape the war raging nearby, he used the last option at his disposal: paying an Egyptian travel company to cross the border at Rafah.

"I left my siblings, my father, my uncles and aunts, my cousins, so it was very difficult — the decision to leave the Gaza Strip was super, super hard," said Amin, 26. CBC News is not revealing his last name because he and his family fear they will face repercussions for smuggling him out of Gaza.

Experts in international affairs say that in the face of famine, war and homelessness, desperate Gazans are paying private travel companies between $5,000 and $10,000 US ($6,770 and $13,500 Cdn) to help them escape into Egypt through Rafah. 

Travel in and out of Gaza has been bottlenecked for decades. 

Neighbours Israel and Egypt have controlled the movement of goods and people to and from the strip under a joint blockade that began after Hamas took control of the densely populated strip in 2007. Gazans looking to leave through either border need a permit from that country's government.

Since Hamas took over in Gaza, Egyptian journalist Mohannad Sabry says people in the strip have not been guaranteed the basic human right to free movement.  

"It has always been subject to security permissions and security allowances and the decisions of Egypt and Israel." 

Israel closed its border to Gazans after the Oct. 7 attack, so the Rafah crossing has become the only viable option. Since then, the only people allowed to leave Gaza have been mainly foreign and dual nationals with connections to other countries, or injured people seeking medical treatment in Egypt.

Ahmed Benchemsi, a spokesperson for Human Rights Watch, said Gazans have two choices to leave from Rafah: register for an exit permit and hope for approval from the Egyptian government, or pay what's known as a travel co-ordination fee to a private company.

"There was … a fast track and that went through private companies that were supposed to expedite the process," he said in an interview. 

Egyptian travel agencies and brokers have been helping people leave Gaza through Rafah for years, explained Lama Alsafi, a PhD student in International Relations at Carleton University in Ottawa. 

For a fee, the travel companies ensure the client's name is on a list of evacuees approved by various governments including officials in Egypt, Israel and Gaza. The companies then book them seats on buses that drive Gazans from Rafah to their offices in Nasr City, a Cairo suburb.