A family’s escape from Rafah, days before the Israeli offensive

We go to the border crossing at Rafah. It seems like mixed feelings of fear and anxiety, at the same time of happiness. High registration fees are required to get from Rafah to Egypt. And we didn’t have that amount of money to get the rest of the family out. I had a mental battle between staying here with my family or keeping my wife and son safe. It was a very difficult decision. When I left Rafah, the situation on the ground was very bad. Sewage in the streets. People live in tents. People were scattered across Rafah looking for food. I am currently staying at a place in New Cairo. I feel a kind of guilt because now I live in a good apartment and eat well, and the other family members are undergoing this suffering. They have no food. They do not have living conditions suitable for normal people. And when I saw the videos of my brother, as he was filling water from a mosque and he was trying to carry them and bring them back to put them at home, it was actually heartbreaking to see these images. What actually makes it worse is that there is nothing you can do as the Rafah border crossing is now blocked. I still hope that the Rafah crossing will be opened again, that our families can leave Gaza and get out safely, to see them one more time.