Support Ruba and her family's prolonged stay in Egypt

Dear friends and dear community,

Almost a year ago, on April 9, 2024, Ruba and her family embarked on the journey to Cairo from Rafah, where they had been living for several weeks in a tent outdoors alongside nearly one million Gazans displaced from various parts of the strip—in Ruba's case, from their home in Tal el Hawa.

They were able to make their journey to safety thanks to the solidarity of our community who contributed funds, loaned their homes, transported cash, sold their services, and so much more in tireless and ingenious efforts, support, and generosity. And thanks to the dauntlessness of my sister Rana who dropped everything and travelled to Cairo for a month to see to their evacuation.

The journey out of Rafah cost $30,000 in evacuation agency fees alone for Ruba, her husband Ashraf, and their children Dima, Nada, Zeina, and Houssam. And $57,500 further in evacuation fees for Ruba’s mother and father, her sisters, and their husbands and children—all of whom were also stranded in Rafah and made the same journey to Egypt thirteen days later.

And then just fourteen days after that, on May 6, 2024, the Isr**li forces launched the offensive on Rafah. The crossing completely shut down and evacuation was no longer possible, not even for thousands of dollars, as Rafah became the site of the most brutal atrocities that Gazans had yet endured since the most recent war was launched against them and their land in October 2023.

A month into the not-quite-ceased-fire in Gaza, as Gazans look for their bearings in this land and sea more beautiful than a thousand Rivieras, and amidst violent transgressions on Palestinians in the West bank… the Rafah crossing remains closed, barring the return of the 100,000 or more Palestinians displaced to Egypt—medical and paying evacuees, Ruba and family among them—and the 50,000 or more others who managed to evacuate to other countries. How have the 100,000+ who evacuated to Egypt been faring? Generally, they have been living in “hellish limbo,” in addition to the already harsh economic and political conditions of life in Egypt:

“Palestinians in Egypt — who the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) embassy estimated numbered around 100,000 as of last summer — are stuck in an existential limbo. They are banned from employment, students are unable to attend schools, and they suffer from dire financial strain. Accessing banking and health care is fraught with obstacles. The main issue stems from the impossibility of obtaining residency permits, which foreigners in Egypt need in order to work legally. Gazans are granted only a thirty-five-day tourist visa. Since they can neither return home nor leave, they remain trapped in a legal deadlock, which the Egyptian government has left unaddressed.”

—Carolina S. Pedrazzi, “Gazan Refugees in Egypt Are in a Hellish Limbo,” Jacobin, January 21, 2025

For Ruba and her family, finding normality in Egypt has been challenging despite small successes. One of the poignant moments was the reunion in Egypt between Rana and Ruba, after a separation of some thirty years, and meeting Ruba’s family in person for the first time.

In terms of the kids’ education, Nada, Ruba’s second child, is continuing her Bachelor degree in Information Management online at the Islamic University in Gaza, and has one final semester before she graduates. Houssam, the youngest, is also studying online, but he has two more years at school before he graduates. Zeina, the third child, has been seeking scholarships to continue her higher education, wherever she hears of possibilities for Gazan students. She wants to become an engineer.

Meanwhile, those in a position to work—father, mother, and the oldest daughter Dima—legally are not allowed to, so they have had no source of income besides the funds leftover for living expenses from the first campaign. Despite the humbling generosity of friends in Egypt, who have provided them with rent-free housing for a whole year, and various attempts to intervene in finding informal jobs, nothing has transpired that can be more stabilizing for the family. Their situation was made worse when Ruba’s diabetes got very bad and she had to be hospitalized in intensive care for twelve days, which rapidly depleted their funds. Furthermore, in June, they are set to hand back the house in which they had been living the past year.

Our goal this time is to support Ruba, Ashraf, Dima, Nada, Zeina, and Houssam in their endeavors for one more year in Egypt, covering their necessities including housing (a year’s rent estimated at $350 monthly, $4,200 total), Ruba’s medical expenses to manage her diabetes (estimated at $200 monthly, i.e. $2,400 for one year), food and basic living expenses (estimated at $1,000 per month for a family of six, i.e. $12,000 per year), and as much as we can for Houssam’s and Nada’s education (Houssam’s highschool tuition is $2,000 per year, and one semester at Nada’s college is $4,000).

And hoping a year will be enough to gain them a modicum of stability and clarity in their journey, and a way back home.

No one is free until all is free.

Freedom to Palestine, from the river to the sea.

Amal