Each nook and nook of Rawan Alkatari’s residence in Aalst, a metropolis in Belgium, is full of footage that remind her of her household in Gaza.
“Individuals who come to go to my residence say it’s stunning. However I’ll see it as stunning when it’s full of the sound of my youngsters,” she stated.
The 30-year-old got here to Belgium shortly earlier than Israel’s warfare on Gaza started in October 2023, having been granted asylum.
However her husband Osama and three youngsters – Lujayn, Lama and Omar, aged 14, 12 and eight, respectively – have been unable to hitch her, regardless of Belgium having authorized their household reunification visas.
“My husband and kids acquired their household reunification visas authorized [by Belgium] on October 1, 2024, however stay caught in Gaza. Their visas additionally expire in October this 12 months,” she informed Al Jazeera.
“Proper now, my household’s paperwork are on the Belgian embassy in Cairo in Egypt. Belgium says it has submitted their names for evacuation and is awaiting Israeli approval, whereas Israel says it hasn’t obtained something. So, who’s accountable? I actually don’t know,” she stated.
Alkatari is being supported by an Israel-based organisation, which has contacted COGAT, the Israeli military’s help coordination company, concerning her case. COGAT informed the group in June {that a} request for her household’s evacuation had not been obtained, she stated, referring to emails seen by Al Jazeera.
Alkatari’s residence in Gaza Metropolis has been destroyed. Her household has been displaced greater than 4 occasions. They at present dwell in an overcrowded encampment in al-Mawasi in Gaza’s Khan Younis. Israel had designated al-Mawasi as a humanitarian secure zone in December 2023, however has repeatedly attacked the world since then.
“On daily basis, bombs fall round their tents, and so they watch folks die. They’re additionally dwelling in a depressing tent with not sufficient meals, no medicines and no secure loos,” she stated, including that fever, hepatitis, and pores and skin ailments are rampant within the camp. Rodents, weasels, and snakes crawl round as folks sleep, she stated.
In Belgium, guilt-stricken and anxious about her household’s plight, she struggles to eat or drink.
“My youngsters beg me to eat. I went out as soon as to get one thing to eat. I seemed on the grocery store and thought, ‘How am I going to eat after they’re hungry?’ My youngsters now not look the identical once I communicate to them over video calls. Their faces are pale and yellow from malnutrition. My husband has additionally aged a lot. His hair and beard have turned utterly white,” she stated.
Why are evacuations being delayed?
The European Union permits asylum seekers who’ve been granted worldwide safety in any member state to deliver their partner, youngsters and sure different members of the family beneath the bloc’s Household Reunification Directive.
In Belgium, one in 4 visas got to members of a refugee’s household final 12 months, native broadcaster VRT NWS reported in January. Refugee household reunification visas elevated to five,714 in 2024 from 3,700 in 2023.
However for refugees from Gaza, Belgium can “solely present consular help and register on an evacuation record Belgians and foreigners who’ve a refugee standing in Belgium, in addition to the members of their nuclear household”, in accordance with the Immigration Division.
Alkatari shouldn’t be satisfied.
“Some households I do know have additionally left for different nations by way of the Kerem Shalom [crossing] in Israel. So there are alternatives, however there appears to be a transparent failure to look after us,” she stated, including that the instances she has heard of are households with Belgian visas and a few who’ve reached different European nations on medical evacuations.
Close by, 37 folks arrived in France on July 11; the French Overseas Ministry stated that since January 2025, 292 folks from Gaza have been evacuated to the nation that borders Belgium.
In early June, in an effort to place stress on Belgian authorities, Alkatari went on a three-week starvation strike protest exterior Belgium’s Overseas Ministry in Brussels.
A number of hundred Palestinian households in Gaza ready to be evacuated to Belgium are caught in the same state of affairs, in accordance with native media stories.
In June, a gaggle of attorneys condemned the delay in an open letter printed by the Belgian every day La Libre Belgique, addressed to Prime Minister Bart De Wever and Overseas Minister Maxime Prevot.
“The Belgian authorities continues in actual fact to do all the things in its energy to forestall males, ladies and kids caught within the hell of Gaza from having the ability to be part of their members of the family in Belgium,” they stated.
Belgium rejects the accusations.
Belgium has evacuated greater than 500 folks from Gaza, for the reason that warfare started, by way of the Rafah border crossing bordering Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, a Overseas Ministry spokesperson stated. This group consists of Belgian residents and Palestinians with Belgian refugee standing and their lawful companions and kids.
“These evacuations needed to be halted in Might 2024, when the Rafah border crossing was closed. It was not till March 2025 that evacuation operations may resume, this time by means of the border put up of Kerem Shalom and Jordan. Since then, round 40 folks have been evacuated,” the spokesperson informed Al Jazeera.
Israel closed the Rafah border crossing in Might 2024, claiming that it was getting used for “terrorist functions”. In January this 12 months, the crossing was opened for medical evacuations.
Belgium organised medical evacuations in July and December final 12 months as a part of a pan-European humanitarian mission, in coordination with the World Well being Group. The sufferers and caretakers had been both evacuated from Egypt or instantly from Gaza.
In October 2024, Belgium’s international minister stated the foundations had modified and solely Belgians or their core members of the family can be eligible for evacuation. However this restriction ended final month, “and preparations started for the resumption of evacuations that had been suspended in Might 2024”, the spokesperson added, giving no additional particulars.
Requested if Israel is delaying evacuations, the spokesperson stated: “A wide range of elements proceed to trigger delays, however efforts are ongoing to seek out options, in shut cooperation with all related authorities.”
Al Jazeera contacted COGAT for remark however didn’t obtain a response on the time of publishing.
Bram Frouws, director of the Geneva-based Combined Migration Centre, informed Al Jazeera that European nations may create humanitarian channels, subject laissez-passer or emergency visas, and loosen the documentation necessities.
“It’s not inconceivable, most nations have managed to get Palestinian folks that maintain twin citizenship of their nations out of Gaza, so with political will, there are potentialities,” he stated.
“However I don’t suppose there’s a lot of that political will within the present political local weather in most European nations.”
