Why Are Palestinians Fleeing the Gaza Strip?

by Bassam Tawil

• These Palestinians are running away because they can no longer tolerate life under the Islamist movement of Hamas. They are not fleeing because of Israel.
• "I know I'm risking my life, but I want to leave, dead or alive. At least I will find a dignified life abroad. People want to leave because of the oppression and injustice we see here [in the Gaza Strip]." — Sfouk AlSheik, twitter.com, September 10, 2023.
• Since 2007, the Gaza Strip has been controlled by the Iran-backed Hamas terror group, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood organization. Instead of working to improve the living conditions of the two million Palestinians living under its rule, Hamas has since invested millions of dollars in manufacturing weapons and building tunnels from which to attack Israel. Hamas had an opportunity to turn the Gaza Strip into the "Singapore of the Middle East," but its desire to destroy Israel has brought only war and death to the Palestinians. To achieve its goal of murdering Jews and eliminating Israel, Hamas appears ready to sacrifice endless numbers of Palestinians.
• Hamas evidently does not care if hundreds of Palestinians are killed and injured in wars instigated by its rocket attacks against Israel. Hamas does not even hesitate to use Palestinians as human shields during its wars with Israel. Members of the terror group have endangered the lives of thousands of their own innocent civilians by firing rockets from residential areas close to schools and hospitals.
• "Despite their exposure to the risks of drowning, loss, and death, Palestinians fleeing the Gaza Strip see that Turkey and Europe are their hope and future." — Mahmoud al-Raqab, Palestinian political analyst, knooznet.com, September 10, 2023.
• Needless to say, Abbas, in his speech, completely ignored the plight of the young Palestinians fleeing the Gaza Strip. For Abbas, promoting hate against Israel and Jews is more important than addressing the economic and humanitarian crisis he helped create, through his sanctions in the Gaza Strip.
• Hamas leaders, for their part, continue to pretend that in the Gaza Strip everything is fine. They are also continuing to incite Palestinians to carry out terror attacks against Israel. Notably, the Hamas leaders are making these statements from their five-star hotels and villas in Qatar and Lebanon.
• The international community, meanwhile, continues to ignore the wretched conditions of the Palestinians living under the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, choosing instead to lay all the blame on Israel.
• As Palestinian leaders continue to suppress the people of the Gaza Strip, Israel has increased the number of work permits for Gazans. In July, at least 67,769 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip were allowed to cross the Israeli-controlled Erez border crossing -- up to 90% of them for jobs that pay well in Israel. Six per cent of the exits were for patients needing medical treatment in Israel or the West Bank.
• It seems that Israel is doing more to help the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip than the Palestinian Authority, Hamas or any Arab country. However, because this news does not fit the anti-Israel agenda of many newspapers and foreign journalists, it is highly unlikely to make it into the mainstream media in the West.

Thousands of Palestinians are continuing to flee the Gaza Strip in search of a better life in other countries. They are running away because they can no longer tolerate life under the Islamist movement of Hamas. They are not fleeing because of Israel. Pictured: Palestinians wait to cross into Egypt through the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip, on November 15, 2021. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)

Thousands of Palestinians are continuing to flee the Gaza Strip in search of a better life in other countries, including Canada and the European Union.

In the past few weeks, several videos of Palestinians leaving the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt have surfaced on social media. Other Palestinians have been documented queuing outside the Gaza offices that issue visas for Turkey to obtain a visa to emigrate. These Palestinians are running away because they can no longer tolerate life under the Islamist movement of Hamas. They are not fleeing because of Israel.

"We want to live in dignity," said a young Palestinian man in one of the videos. "All those who are seeking to emigrate want a dignified life. The young men are risking their lives, they are prepared to die."

Another young man said:

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