{"id":274257,"date":"2026-02-04T21:25:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T21:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/274257\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T21:25:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T21:25:13","slug":"palestinians-in-egypt-torn-on-returning-to-battle-scarred-gaza-with-no-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/274257\/","title":{"rendered":"Palestinians in Egypt torn on returning to battle-scarred Gaza with ‘no future’"},"content":{"rendered":"

CAIRO, Egypt \u2014\u00a0As Israel begins to allow a trickle of Palestinians through the Rafah Crossing, Gazans stranded in Egypt are torn between staying in exile without formal status or returning to a land in ruins.<\/p>\n

\u201cReturn to Gaza for what? To live in a tent?\u201d demanded Mohamed, a 78-year-old poet from Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have not turned our backs on Gaza; we will return. But right now, we cannot go back under these conditions,\u201d he told AFP, asking to be identified only by his first name.<\/p>\n

Some 80 percent of Gaza\u2019s buildings have been destroyed or damaged, according to the United Nations.<\/p>\n

While food security in Gaza has improved since the ceasefire<\/a> came into place in October, the humanitarian situation in the Strip remains dire, and there are not yet detailed reconstruction plans.<\/p>\n

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Mohamed is among an estimated 80,000-100,000 Palestinians who came to Egypt through the Rafah Crossing, before it was captured by Israeli forces and shut by Egypt in May 2024 amid the war in Gaza, which was sparked by the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, massacre.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tAmbulances wait on the Egyptian side of the Rafah Crossing with the Gaza Strip on February 4, 2026, days after Israel permitted a limited reopening of the Palestinian territory\u2019s border post. (AFP)<\/p>\n

Returns are tightly controlled, and by Wednesday, only a few dozen Palestinians had been allowed back, describing<\/a> to AFP a humiliating journey through Israeli checkpoints.<\/p>\n

Asked about the alleged mistreatment on Tuesday, the Israeli military said, \u201cNo incidents of inappropriate conduct, mistreatment, apprehensions, or confiscation of property by the Israeli security establishment are known.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nothing to return to<\/p>\n

Two years after their son, who lives in France, drained his savings to get them out, Mohamed\u2019s wife, Sawsan, 72, said she could not imagine returning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation that pushed us out hasn\u2019t changed. We lost our homes, our children, our livelihood,\u201d she told AFP, heartbroken over her family still in Gaza: a daughter, a son-in-law, and three grandchildren aged three, seven, and nine.<\/p>\n

Across town, Nadra, 37, is focused only on her son, Hakim.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tPalestinians, coming from the Rafah Crossing with Egypt, arrive at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on February 4, 2026. (Bashar Taleb \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

She brought him to Egypt in January 2024, seeking medical treatment after he suffered burns in an Israeli strike early in the war, at eight years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no future in Gaza now. No clean water, no safety, no school for Hakim, nowhere for us to stay,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Two years on, she lives off monthly transfers from her sister abroad that barely cover rent for her studio apartment.<\/p>\n

Skyrocketing rent prices and a state of limbo are among the many struggles of Gazans in Egypt, which has repeatedly warned against any mass displacement of Palestinians into its territory.<\/p>\n

Egypt offers a measure of safety, but Gazans who arrived in recent years lack legal status, cannot work formally, and are often denied access to public hospitals, schools, and banking.<\/p>\n

On the eastern outskirts of Cairo, Mahmoud Abdelrahman Rabie counts the days until he can return to Gaza.<\/p>\n

He knows he may not be able to even find the remains of his former home and chicken farm in Jabalia, much of which has been bombed to the ground. The IDF operated in Jabalia several times throughout the war in order to\u00a0dismantle Hamas capabilities in the area<\/p>\n

\u201cI know what life is like in a tent. I lived like that for a year. But I still want to return to Gaza,\u201d the 65-year-old told AFP from his cramped studio, a keffiyeh draped over his shoulders.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tReturnees to Gaza are welcomed by relatives after they arrive at Nasser Hospital following the long-awaited reopening of the Rafah Crossing, in Khan Younis, February 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/Jehad Alshrafi)<\/p>\n

Rabie tried to make a living as a driver, but couldn\u2019t get a license without a residence permit, and has since survived on help from friends and relatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere I am alive only in name. My heart and soul are in Gaza,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But he has little hope, with only a handful of Palestinians allowed through the crossing.<\/p>\n

At the current rate, \u201cmy turn will come in two years,\u201d Rabie said. \u201cI don\u2019t even know how I\u2019m paying next month\u2019s rent.\u201d<\/p>\n

A year after he was medically evacuated by the UN, Rabie longs for his family, which includes 52 grandchildren scattered around Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cry myself to sleep every night\u2026 I just want to go back to my land.\u201d<\/p>\n

A tent over a palace<\/p>\n

Yaela el-Beltagy, a 36-year-old former restaurant owner, has registered himself, his wife, son, and four siblings to return to Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to go back, see my father and mother, even if there is nothing there but tents,\u201d he told AFP by phone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a people deeply connected to our land; we cannot stay away from it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tIllustrative: Palestinians make their way through the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City on February 4, 2026 (Omar AL-QATTAA \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

Palestinians have repeatedly warned of mass displacement from Gaza, and that those leaving will not be allowed to return.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would pick a tent in Gaza over a palace anywhere in the world,\u201d Beltagy said.<\/p>\n

But though they long for home, many are unprepared to risk their family\u2019s health and safety.<\/p>\n

Hala, a 40-year-old teacher\u2019s assistant, left Gaza a few weeks before the Rafah Crossing shut.<\/p>\n

She now lives with her parents, both of whom are in need of regular healthcare \u2014 impossible for most in Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t go back there, not with my parents, and not without them. They\u2019re getting old; they deserve to live out their days in peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CAIRO, Egypt \u2014\u00a0As Israel begins to allow a trickle of Palestinians through the Rafah Crossing, Gazans stranded in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-274257","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}