Gazans stuck within own territory
Thousands can’t go on pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia due to closures
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — With the war-battered Gaza Strip’s borders closed, thousands of people have been shut out of a Muslim pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia because they cannot leave the sealed territory.
About 7,500 Gazans want to travel to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, for the minor umrah pilgrimage but have been turned away because Egypt restricts movement in and out of the coastal area.
Egypt has shut its border with the Gaza Strip since Oct. 24, citing security concerns in its northern Sinai Peninsula. It has opened it only intermittently for students and patients seeking medical care. Israel also restricts exit from the territory.
The closing is affecting a population already upset by a war against Israel last summer that destroyed thousands of homes and has displaced tens of thousands of people.
“I wait hour by hour. We feel every day that passes without leaving as though it’s a year,” said Fares Hayek, 80, who is among those waiting to make the pilgrimage. He applied in November along with his wife, children and grandchildren.
Travel agents who facilitate the yearly pilgrimage say they’ve taken a hit from the closed borders. Awad Abu Mazkour, the head of a group that represents travel agents, said agents in Gaza are losing $140,000 in licence fees, bank guarantees and hotel bookings each month.
One agent, Eid Hnaif, said he has booked a 35-room hotel in Saudi Arabia for his clients that they may never reach.
“We lost half of the season and this affected us negatively. I’m unable to pay my eight employees for the second month and can’t terminate their services because I’m not sure if the crossing will open or not,” said Hnaif, who keeps his clients’ passports in a black sports bag in his Gaza City office, waiting for word on whether they will travel. About 50,000 Gazans travel for the umrah each year, and travellers continued to leave even during last year’s war between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers. But since the pilgrimage season began in November, no one has been able to leave.
Egypt sealed the border following an October ambush by Islamic militants that killed 31 Egyptian soldiers. Disgruntled residents have staged protests and sit-ins, calling on the Palestinian and Egyptian leadership to resolve the situation.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has said he will open the border only if it is controlled by the Palestinian Authority. Despite an accord last year to form a Palestinian unity government, Hamas remains in control of Gaza, while the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority wields little influence over the coastal strip.