Each nook and nook of Rawan Alkatari’s dwelling in Aalst, a metropolis in Belgium, is crammed with photos that remind her of her household in Gaza.
“Individuals who come to go to my dwelling say it’s lovely. However I’ll see it as lovely when it’s crammed with the sound of my kids,” she mentioned.
The 30-year-old got here to Belgium shortly earlier than Israel’s war on Gaza started in October 2023, having been granted asylum.
However her husband Osama and three kids – Lujayn, Lama and Omar, aged 14, 12 and eight, respectively – have been unable to hitch her, regardless of Belgium having accredited their household reunification visas.
“My husband and youngsters received their household reunification visas accredited [by Belgium] on October 1, 2024, however stay caught in Gaza. Their visas additionally expire in October this yr,” she advised 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 acquired something. So, who’s accountable? I actually don’t know,” she mentioned.
Alkatari is being supported by an Israel-based organisation, which has contacted COGAT, the Israeli military’s help coordination company, relating to her case. COGAT advised the group in June {that a} request for her household’s evacuation had not been acquired, she mentioned, referring to emails seen by Al Jazeera.
Alkatari’s dwelling in Gaza Metropolis has been destroyed. Her household has been displaced greater than 4 instances. They at the moment stay 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 realm since then.
“Day-after-day, bombs fall round their tents, and so they watch individuals die. They’re additionally residing in a depressing tent with not sufficient meals, no medicines and no secure bogs,” she mentioned, including that fever, hepatitis, and pores and skin illnesses are rampant within the camp. Rodents, weasels, and snakes crawl round as individuals sleep, she mentioned.
In Belgium, guilt-stricken and anxious about her household’s plight, she struggles to eat or drink.
“My kids beg me to eat. I went out as soon as to get one thing to eat. I appeared on the grocery store and thought, ‘How am I going to eat after they’re hungry?’ My kids 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 fully white,” she mentioned.
Why are evacuations being delayed?
The European Union permits asylum seekers who’ve been granted worldwide safety in any member state to carry their partner, kids and sure different relations beneath the bloc’s Household Reunification Directive.
In Belgium, one in 4 visas got to members of a refugee’s household final yr, 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 listing Belgians and foreigners who’ve a refugee standing in Belgium, in addition to the members of their nuclear household”, according to the Immigration Division.
Alkatari just isn’t satisfied.
“Some households I do know have additionally left for different international locations through the Kerem Shalom [crossing] in Israel. So there are alternatives, however there appears to be a transparent failure to take care of us,” she mentioned, including that the circumstances she has heard of are households with Belgian visas and a few who’ve reached different European international locations on medical evacuations.
Close by, 37 individuals arrived in France on July 11; the French International Ministry mentioned that since January 2025, 292 individuals from Gaza have been evacuated to the nation that borders Belgium.
In early June, in an effort to place strain on Belgian authorities, Alkatari went on a three-week starvation strike protest outdoors Belgium’s International Ministry in Brussels.
A number of hundred Palestinian households in Gaza ready to be evacuated to Belgium are caught in an analogous state of affairs, in keeping with native media experiences.
In June, a gaggle of attorneys condemned the delay in an open letter revealed by the Belgian each day La Libre Belgique, addressed to Prime Minister Bart De Wever and International Minister Maxime Prevot.
“The Belgian authorities continues in reality to do all the things in its energy to forestall males, ladies and youngsters caught within the hell of Gaza from having the ability to be part of their relations in Belgium,” they mentioned.
Belgium rejects the accusations.
Belgium has evacuated greater than 500 individuals from Gaza, for the reason that struggle started, through the Rafah border crossing bordering Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, a International Ministry spokesperson mentioned. This group contains Belgian residents and Palestinians with Belgian refugee standing and their lawful companions and youngsters.
“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 via the border publish of Kerem Shalom and Jordan. Since then, round 40 individuals have been evacuated,” the spokesperson advised Al Jazeera.
Israel closed the Rafah border crossing in Might 2024, claiming that it was getting used for “terrorist functions”. In January this yr, the crossing was opened for medical evacuations.
Belgium organised medical evacuations in July and December final yr as a part of a pan-European humanitarian mission, in coordination with the World Well being Group. The sufferers and caretakers have been both evacuated from Egypt or instantly from Gaza.
In October 2024, Belgium’s international minister mentioned the foundations had modified and solely Belgians or their core relations could 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 mentioned: “Quite a lot of components 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 Blended Migration Centre, advised Al Jazeera that European international locations may create humanitarian channels, problem laissez-passer or emergency visas, and loosen the documentation necessities.
“It’s not unimaginable, most international locations have managed to get Palestinian people who maintain twin citizenship of their international locations out of Gaza, so with political will, there are prospects,” he mentioned.
“However I don’t suppose there may be a lot of that political will within the present political local weather in most European international locations.”
