Displaced Palestinians, who fled their homes due to the Israeli aggression, take shelter in camps in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip (Reuters)

The British Middle East Eye website revealed an attempt by the British Internal Intelligence Service (MI5) to recruit a British-Palestinian man in exchange for helping his family leave the Gaza Strip.

The man, who was stranded in Rafah with his family, said that the intelligence service offered them help, on the condition that the man agreed to work for the spy agency.

The man, who refused to accept the offer, explained that he now fears for his displaced family - which includes a one-year-old daughter, who suffers from a serious medical condition, and two other young children - from an expected Israeli attack and a humanitarian crisis that is getting worse day by day.

The family, which Middle East Eye did not identify due to the sensitivity of the case, recorded: At the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), attempting to leave via the Rafah crossing into Egypt.

Despite being registered, the family has been waiting for weeks to no avail.

Human nightmare

In statements to a family member, he confirmed that they left their home in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza after being forced to flee last December, due to the war that United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the day before Thursday as a “humanitarian nightmare.”

The family members are living in a tent with hundreds of thousands of other displaced people from the devastated areas of Gaza, but their fate has not yet been determined.

A family member points out that many members of his Palestinian wife’s family were martyred in the Israeli bombing, and their house was destroyed by an Israeli missile.

The man believed that the matter would only take a few days or a week at most, as the Foreign Office had helped dozens of British citizens to leave Gaza through the Rafah crossing to Egypt.

But he and his family have been waiting for more than two months for the decision to evacuate them from this war.

In the same context, the man reported that several members of his Palestinian wife’s family, including her mother, her brother, and a number of their children, were martyred as a result of the Israeli bombing, and their house was later destroyed by an Israeli missile.

Issuing permission for children without their parents

It is noteworthy that the Israeli and Egyptian authorities must agree on the names of people crossing from Gaza into Egypt. Yesterday, Friday, the man told Middle East Eye that his children, one of whom is 1 year old, the second 6 years old, and the third 4 years old, have been added to the list of those allowed to leave, but he and his wife have not yet been granted permission.

The man said that his young daughter's medical condition requires regular medications and treatments, which they have not been able to access since the beginning of the war. He added that he sent medical reports to the Foreign Affairs Office, hoping that this would speed up the evacuation of the family, but to no avail.

He added that issuing permission to his children without his and their mother's permission is ridiculous, as the children are still young and largely dependent on their mother's care. The man demanded that their mother be given permission to at least go with them, as this is the most basic of his children's rights.

The man's relatives in the UK, including his mother and sister, have also been in regular contact with the Foreign Office demanding urgent assistance to the family.

Family members suggested traveling to Egypt to care for the children if plans could be made to transport them across the border. However, they reported that the British Foreign Office told them that it could not assist at the border or with the issue of children traveling to Cairo.

In a statement to Middle East Eye, the man's sister explained that they expected the worst news to fall on them at any time, and that they had not received any help from the British government so far.

Since Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza, which, as of Friday, resulted in the death of 27,947 Palestinians and the injury of 67,459 others, most of them children and women. This war also caused massive destruction of infrastructure, leaving an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe,” according to Palestinian and international reports.

Source: Middle East Eye