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Thousands of Palestinians Are Leaving Gaza
(NPR) Daniel Estrin - Egypt opened its border with Gaza in May 2018, and tens of thousands of Gazans have crossed that border and scattered across the world. Experts in Gaza estimate around 35,000 to 40,000 Gazans have left since mid-2018. This year Palestinians are the third-largest group after Afghans and Syrians to take the smuggling route across the Mediterranean to Europe, says the International Organization for Migration. Egypt only allows in a few hundred Gaza travelers a day, so Hamas maintains a months-long waiting list. Those who pay a bribe to authorities on both sides of the border get bumped higher up the list. At Gaza's main hospital, three of its five gastrointestinal specialists have left, as well as a fifth of the physiotherapists and the lone cardiac surgeon, according to hospital staff.