Thousands of foreigners, including those with Russian passports, are unsuccessfully trying to leave Rafah for the Egyptian side. Refugees from 15 countries are now in a temporary accommodation center – a school building in the south of the city of Rafah. There are dozens of Russians in the room. Unexpectedly, it turned out that a passport of a citizen of another state is not at all a guarantee of quick evacuation. People waited for the opening of the border crossing all Friday, did not leave the gate from Rafah to Egypt for more than 14 hours, but it was never opened to them.
Representatives of various diplomatic missions, including the Russian one, are very cautious in assessing when the displaced will finally be able to leave the Gaza Strip. And the refugees themselves are tired of waiting.
“We have been waiting for a long time to be evacuated. It’s been a month, even more than a month. We submitted documents a long time ago. We were supposed to be evacuated on October 16. But, as you can see, we were detained. It turns out that we are the last to leave and cannot leave. The day before yesterday we got a call at 9 pm, the ambassador called and said – we should be at the ma’abar (checkpoint – approx.) at 7 am. REN TV). We fulfilled this condition – at 7 am we were at the checkpoint, that is, on the border with Egypt, at the Rafah checkpoint. But they didn’t let us out. We were under the sun all day without water, without food, there are no toilets”said Anna Ashur, a resident of the Gaza Strip.
After such a day, people were unable to rest in the temporary accommodation center. It’s cramped there, there’s a shortage of water, there’s no light—you can’t even charge your phone to contact your relatives. In addition, due to unsanitary conditions in the school building, rotaviruses spread.
“Infections have started. When will they take us out? Please, we beg you, take us out as soon as possible,” – says Elena Lanzhey, a resident of the Gaza Strip.
Families of foreigners, including Russians, are trying to reach out to the authorities in Egypt and Israel, but alas. They have no opportunity to influence the opening of the border crossing. Bags are packed, people are ready to leave at any moment. Moreover, according to the Egyptian quota, up to 600 people can pass through Rafah per day. Now diplomats are doing everything possible to ensure that refugees end up in Cairo within a few hours, from where they will be flown to Russia.
