By Manal Abdel Fattah
As the war entered its seventh month, the Embassy of the State of Palestine in Cairo highlighted the efforts made to provide relief to the Palestinian people who arrived in Egypt during the genocidal war waged by Israel against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and throughout the Palestinian territories, including the wounded and sick, as well as students and stranded citizens, and to work To facilitate the issuance of their official papers within the embassy’s work powers, and to follow up on the various student concerns of students studying in Egyptian universities who have no means of communicating with their families.
The embassy explained that, since the beginning of the exit of the wounded, sick and injured to receive treatment in Egyptian hospitals, it was keen to send a committee to Al-Arish to begin its work, starting from the Rafah land crossing, to follow up on the entry of the wounded, sick and injured as a result of the brutal Israeli aggression.
The committee undertook to complete all procedures for admitting the wounded through direct coordination with all relevant authorities and the Egyptian Ministry of Health to enroll them in Egyptian hospitals, under the comprehensive care of the Egyptian leadership.
The embassy sent representatives to a number of hospitals where the wounded and injured were present while they were receiving treatment in Egyptian hospitals to follow up on the conditions of the Palestinian people and the relevant logistical arrangements related to them until they returned home to hospitals and health.
The embassy was keen to organize periodic visits to review the conditions of the wounded in Egyptian hospitals and provide the necessary logistical services to them and their companions in all governorates of the Republic.
The embassy took over the follow-up and accommodation of those who completed treatment in the hospital homes of North Sinai Governorate and the headquarters of the Ministry of Social Solidarity in Cairo.
The embassy also coordinated with various relief institutions to distribute financial aid to the stranded, wounded, and sick according to the mechanism of direct support from the donor to the beneficiary, as the embassy followed up and visited more than eighty hospitals and recovery centers distributed throughout the Republic several times.
It also provided support to 3,400 wounded and sick people and 6,500 companions for the wounded and sick, in addition to the embassy’s contribution to preparing four buildings to receive citizens in Al-Arish, Sheikh Zuweid and Bir al-Abd, in cooperation with the North Sinai Governorate, in full coordination with the North Sinai Governor. We are grateful for the great services he provided. Continuing for the stranded, wounded and sick Palestinian people, and facilitating the entry of relief aid into the Gaza Strip.
As part of the consular efforts, the Consular and Public Affairs Section at the embassy, since the beginning of the crisis, has completed the transactions of about 8,000 passports, and about thirty thousand transit documents and various affidavits.
Representatives from the consular section were also sent to the Rafah land crossing to issue travel documents for citizens coming from the Gaza Strip to Egypt. The embassy, through friendly charitable societies, provided financial assistance to 11,250 families of citizens stranded in Egypt, and three thousand food baskets during the past six months, and the average amounted to The number of visitors to the embassy is 1,000 visitors per day.
In the same context, the Consular Affairs Department, along with embassy representatives, continued transporting and escorting the wounded and sick and their companions who had completed their treatment to shelter and hospital centers until they were able to return to the Gaza Strip.
The Department of Cultural Affairs was also keen to launch an initiative in cooperation with the Ministry of Education to register students studying in Palestinian schools from various school levels who are stranded in Egypt to complete their educational and academic studies from the State of Palestine through the distance education mechanism, where nearly 9,400 students benefited from it.
Efforts and communications are still underway to accommodate students coming from the Gaza Strip to Egypt in the same program in coordination with the Ministry of Education of the State of Palestine.
The Cultural Affairs Department mobilized its efforts to facilitate student concerns related to Palestinian students studying in Egyptian universities and institutes, starting with coordination between relief institutions, the Palestinian Charitable Society, and Palestinian students studying in Egyptian universities.
Financial aid was provided to 4,600 male and female students, 722 food baskets were provided, students who defaulted on university tuition payments were scheduled, and university tuition arrears were paid for 14 students whose families were martyred during the current war, and communication is underway with all friendly supportive parties to complete the support for the students. Those who default on paying their university tuition.
The embassy continued to communicate with the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, the Central Administration for International Students, the Presidency of Universities, and the Deanship of the various colleges, to solve all problems related to the difficulty of students paying their university fees, and to allow them to complete their educational journey, take exams, and overcome all related difficulties.
In this context, the Embassy of Palestine in Cairo extended thanks and appreciation to the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research for the great services it provided to students of the State of Palestine studying in Egyptian universities and higher institutes.
The embassy’s efforts continue to send a media committee to communicate with the Egyptian Arabic- and English-speaking media to provide them with developments in the Palestinian scene in light of the ongoing genocide war around the clock, and to coordinate with various sources to inform the media of developments in events.
