Palestinians who fled Gaza for Egypt are being scammed and exploited by fake charities
Shaimaa Al Youssef reports in Mondoweiss on 27 October 2026 :
Mohammed Odeh Mahmoud, a 60-year-old Palestinian engineer, lost everything to the war in Gaza: his greenhouses, his farm and his three-story home. He fled the enclave seven months into the genocide, paying Hala Consulting and Tourism, a private Egyptian company, more than $100,000 to get his 22-member family out of Gaza.
But a different kind of hardship awaited him on the other side. He paid $140 per adult for residency permits, but has been unable to renew them. “Hala just left us displaced in Egypt,” he said. “We have nothing left but God’s mercy.” Now he relies on a monthly parcel from the Egyptian Food Bank and on help from relatives.
More than 115,000 Palestinians had fled Gaza to Egypt by May 2024, according to Palestinian officials. Unable to obtain residency or work legally, many have depended on charity and aid, leaving them vulnerable to those who would exploit them. Since the October 2025 ceasefire, much of that aid has dwindled, deepening their desperation.
In July 2024, Haidar, who had recently arrived in Cairo from Khan Younis and asked to be identified by his first name only, received a call on his mother’s phone from someone claiming to represent a charity called “Muslims Are Brothers.”
Haidar had registered his details through an online link weeks earlier, hoping for a food parcel and 10,000 Egyptian pounds (about $200) in aid. Now, the caller said, the money was ready.
“He said, ‘Do you have Vodafone Cash on this number?’ I said yes. He said, ‘I’ll send you a code. Send it back to me so I can transfer the money,’” Haidar told Mondoweiss. “And he stole the whole balance.”