GAZA-FILE-MIDEAST GAZA/MIGRANTS Gaza war spurs more Palestinians to risk dangerous migration to Europe

Record ID: 348802

  • Title: GAZA-FILE-MIDEAST GAZA/MIGRANTS Gaza war spurs more Palestinians to risk dangerous migration to Europe
  • Date: 18th September 2014
  • Summary: KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA (SEPTEMBER 17, 2014) (REUTERS) FAMILY OF PALESTINIAN AHMED ASFOUR, WHO WENT ON ONE OF THE BOATS, AND IS NOW MISSING MOTHER AND FATHER OF AHMED ASFOUR (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MOTHER OF THE MISSING AHMED ASFOUR, NAWAL ASFOUR, SAYING: "For the past 11 days, there is no contact with Ahmed. We are worried. We heard that the boat sank but till now we do not know i
  • Embargoed: 3rd October 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Gaza
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVACD359A7TJOP9KRV0U8RG78J54
  • Story Text: A devastating war with Israel has swollen the number of Palestinians in the blockaded Gaza Strip joining a perilous exodus by sea of migrants fleeing conflict in the Middle East and Africa for dreams of a new life in Europe.
    Palestinians with knowledge of smuggling tunnels' operations under the Egypt-Gaza border say between 1,500 and 2,000 Gazans have left the enclave for Europe in the past four or five months, with a trickle of individuals growing into groups of dozens during a seven-week war halted by a truce on Aug. 26.
    A video and stills obtained by Reuters from Palestinian migrant Obaida Zourob, are said to show Palestinians, Syrians and Egyptians on a boat in the middle of the Mediterranean, en route to Italy. According to Zourob, this boat made it to Italy successfully.
    News that more than 700 people fleeing Africa and the Middle East may have drowned in shipwrecks in the Mediterranean over the last week has raised alarm among families of Palestinian migrants awaiting word that their loved ones had arrived safely.
    In the worst incident last week, as many as 500 migrants are believed to have died after traffickers rammed their ship off Malta's coast, the International Organisation for Migration said on Monday. Those on board included Palestinians, Syrians, Egyptians and Sudanese trying to reach Europe.
    Samir Asfour, 57, from the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, learnt about the possible death of his son, Ahmed, from a survivor who had seen him on a ship that sank on Sept. 10.
    Ahmed, 25, was in Cairo seeking treatment from wounds caused by an Israeli missile attack in 2009 when he decided to join three of his cousins - who also died - and make the journey, the father said.
    "For the past 11 days, there is no contact with Ahmed. We are worried. We heard that the boat sank but till now we do not know if he is alive or dead," mother of the missing Ahmed Asfour, Nawal Asfour, said.
    His father said that young people flee Gaza to find jobs.
    "Till now we do not have any official news of whether they are alive or dead. The main reasons for immigration are poverty, unemployment, the war on Gaza, destruction in Gaza, the infrastructure is destroyed. The young men do not have a future," he said.
    Both Israel and Egypt maintain blockades of the Gaza Strip, a territory of 1.8 million Palestinians that is dominated by Hamas, an Islamist movement which Israel and the West regard as a terrorist group and Cairo views with suspicion.
    Unemployment in the territory, according to the World Bank, is around 50 percent, but many Palestinians in need receive aid from a U.N. agency tasked for decades with their welfare, and poverty is far below the level experienced by African migrants.
    However, the July-August war with Israel - the third major offensive it has mounted since 2008 with the declared aim of halting cross-border rocket fire - has added to a sense of despair.
    More than 2,100 Palestinians were killed, many of them civilians, local officials said, and tens of thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed in the fighting that also claimed the lives of 67 Israeli soldiers and six civilians in Israel.
    Relative of Ahmed Asfour, Hala Asfour, says that she is willing to head to Europe but needs to save more money.
    "I was going to travel with the young men, but I did not have the money. I wanted to migrate, then bring my children. I wanted a future. I wanted to go and I still hope that I will migrate. When I have the money I will go," she said.
    Another relative Yasmin Asfour, says her husband was smuggled to Egypt and is now waiting to travel by sea.
    "We had to rent our house, my husband took the money and he travelled, I am staying at his parents house in a small room. When he gets the residency I will travel. When he arrived in Egypt he heard the news about the ship sinking, so all the officials knew about the ship. So he couldn't travel. But he still insists that he will travel and not come back to Gaza. He said that if he comes back to Gaza he will kill himself," the young woman said.
    Migrants have been streaming out of North Africa, mostly lawless Libya, in rickety boats in rising numbers for years. Many head for Italy, a gateway to the European Union (EU).
    Some 130,000 people have arrived in Europe by sea so far this year, compared with 60,000 last year, according to the UNHCR. Italy has received more than 118,000, most of them rescued at sea under its naval operation Mare Nostrum.
    For Gazans, the journey begins by registering with tunnel owners who work as brokers for three Egypt-based smugglers. Passage under the border costs around 400 U.S. dollars (USD), a bus ride to the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, 800 USD, and a place on the ship, 2000 USD, according to survivors and relatives of missing migrants.
    The failure by rival rulers of the Palestinians, President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction and the Islamist Hamas group to unite and the continued Israeli blockade of Gaza as well as on-off wars with Israel represented the prime motive behind the group migration. Some of those Reuters spoke to in Gaza and in Sweden put the number of those who arrived in Italy in past several weeks at 2,000.
    Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas spokesman, said though it was not limited to Palestinians, migration showed the "catastrophic condition in Gaza as a result of the total blockade by the occupation."
    "The Israeli occupation is responsible for the migration of the Palestinian young people from Gaza. There are regional smuggling gangs that want to exploit the suffering of the Palestinian people. Hamas is investigating and trying to find a solution to end this problem. We need to make our Palestinian people aware of the dangers of this issue,"
    Abu Zuhri said.
    Mamoun Abu Amer, a Gaza political analyst, said migrants were pushed by the absence of a horizon for resolving what have become chronic problems such as internal splits and the Israeli blockade of a territory where unemployment reached 45 percent before July.
    "I think it's obvious in the Gaza Strip that they migrate due to the blockade of the last seven years. The situation, due to the siege, is getting worse - even before the war. This causes psychological problems for the young people, as there are not jobs and the rate of unemployment is so high," he added.
    Successful stories told by migrants who made it to Europe have encouraged others to follow, since the incidents of sinking ships were limited in occurring.
    Recent images of wrecked ships and recovered bodies, however, have shocked residents in both Gaza and the West Bank.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register