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Manal, a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip living in Egypt, did not expect that her brief visit to her relatives in Libya after an absence of more than 13 years would then indefinitely deprive her of seeing her immediate family waiting in Cairo.

Like tens of thousands of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, the 48-year-old mother of six fled with her family from Israel's war through the Rafah crossing after paying "huge bribes".

As soon as she arrived in Egypt, her suffering continued due to a lack of any official residency papers or her husband's inability to find work.

"Nevertheless, I wanted to live safely with my children who suffered fear and terror in Gaza and suffered poverty [...] I sold all my gold savings just to escape and came here [...] The situation is not better, but we found safety," Manal remarked to °®Âþµº.Ìý

Despite the instability that Manal was living in Egypt, she decided to visit her relatives in Libya, who she had not seen for more than 13 years after they departed to Libya following the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011.

A few days after arriving in Libya, she was surprised by a "controversial" Egyptian decision to prevent all Palestinians present [even if they were just visiting] in Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Sudan from entering Cairo under any circumstances.

"I fled from fear in Libya to death in Gaza to hell in Egypt, and now I have returned to the unknown in Libya [...] I don't know why I am living all these tragedies?" she said.Ìý

"What will happen to my family who live there without me and what will I do alone without knowing how I will continue my life [...] Even my family cannot come here due to security measures," she added.Ìý

The new travel restrictions are not limited to Palestinians present in just those five countries, as the Egyptian authorities issued a new decision in early 2025 preventing Palestinians from entering the country through its airports except after obtaining prior security approval in exchange for sums of money paid in dollars.

The omnipresent blockade

The new Egyptian measures prompted Mohammed, another Palestinian man living in Egypt, to not travel to Turkey in fear of not being allowed to return to Egypt again.

"I was planning to travel for work for a while. If my mission does not succeed, I will return to my family again, but in these circumstances, I cannot travel and live abroad without knowing what our fate will be," he told TNA.Ìý

"Unfortunately, in the Gaza Strip, we have lived for long years of blockade, deprivation, travel, and our most basic human rights. Even when we escaped death, we were besieged by strict measures. We do not know the reason for all these measures," he added.

"We are a people who only want to live. If there were no war in Gaza, we would not have left it. We have adapted to our lives even under siege [...] Because of the political situation in Gaza, we have lived for long years of loss, fear, and terror, and we have never obtained our right to life," Mohammed continued.Ìý

According to estimates by the Palestinian embassy in Cairo, about 100,000 Palestinians live in Egypt. Most of them suffer from the lack of a source of livelihood or even official credentials from the Egyptian authorities, which puts them all at risk of deportation at any moment.

Syrians, also targettedÌý

For the Syrians in Egypt, who numbered 1.5 million according to the International Organization for Migration, as they too were surprised to learn they were banned from entering Egypt from all over the world.

On Friday, the Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority issued a decision to prevent the entry of Syrians coming from various countries around the world without obtaining the necessary permits from the relevant authorities.

This came a few days after a decision was issued to prevent the entry of Syrians holding European, American and Canadian residency to Egypt without obtaining security approval.

The decisions came after the sudden fall of the Assad regime in Syria and the control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) over the country.

In press statements, Amr al-Sharqawi, the head of the Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority, said that the decision to prevent the entry of Syrians from coming abroad to Egypt is like the previous decisions regarding all countries in conflict.

Al-Sharqawi claimed that "the decision does not include any kind of ban, as was circulated on social media."

He added that "the entry of Syrian brothers into Egypt under the decision will be similar to the entry procedures for Libyan and Yemeni brothers and citizens from other countries such as Ukraine as well."

Al-Sharqawi further explained that the temporary residence permit requires the completion of paperwork from the relevant authorities.

Mohammed, a Syrian citizen living in Egypt for more than ten years, was prevented from returning to Egypt despite being married to an Egyptian woman and holding a permanent residence permit under the pretext that he is currently in Syria.

A father of three children, he had left Egypt for Syria to visit his family for the first time in 12 years in the Yarmouk camp after the fall of the Assad regime.

"I did not know that seeing my country, mother, and brothers would deprive me of my family and children and ban me from travelling to Egypt. [...] I cannot understand these procedures or even how Egypt deals with us," he said toÌýTNA.Ìý "I lived in Egypt as if it were my country, I respected the laws in force there, I established a factory for oriental sweets, and I never lived as a burden on any party, so why are we [Syrians] being fought?"Ìý

His wife is trying to get an exemption for her husband from the Egyptian authorities, but all her attempts have been met with complete rejection.Ìý

According to Mohammed, authorities told his wife: "If you want your Syrian husband, go to him; he will not enter Egypt."Ìý