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LAMPEDUSA: It took more than a year, several thousand dollars, ingenuity, setbacks and a jet ski: this is how Muhammad Abu Dakha, a 31-year-old Palestinian, managed to escape from Gaza to reach Europe.
He documented his story through videos, photographs and audio files, which he shared with Reuters. Reuters also interviewed him and his travel companions upon their arrival in Italy, and their relatives in the Gaza Strip.
Fleeing the devastation caused by the nearly two-year-old Israel-Hamas war, in which Gaza health authorities say more than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed, Abu Dakha crossed the Rafah border point into Egypt in April 2024, paying $5,000.

TO CHINA AND BACK
He said he initially went to China, where he hoped to win asylum, but returned to Egypt, via Malaysia and Indonesia, after that failed. He showed Reuters email correspondence with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) Representation in China from August and September 2024.
Abu Dakha then went to Libya where, according to multiple reports by human rights groups and the UN, tens of thousands of migrants are routinely abused and exploited by traffickers and militias while trying to secure a spot on a boat to Europe.
According to data from Italy’s interior ministry, more than 47,000 boat migrants have arrived in the country in the year to date, mostly from Libya and Tunisia. But Abu Dakha made it across in highly unusual circumstances.
After 10 failed crossing attempts with smugglers, he said he purchased a used Yamaha jet ski for about $5,000 through a Libyan online marketplace and invested another $1,500 in equipment, including a GPS, a satellite phone and life jackets.
Accompanied by two other Palestinians, 27-year-old Diaa and 23-year-old Bassem, he said he drove the jet ski for about 12 hours, seeing off a chasing Tunisian patrol boat, all while towing a dinghy with extra supplies.
The trio used ChatGPT to calculate how much fuel they would need, but still ran out some 20 km (12 miles) shy of Lampedusa. They managed to call for help, prompting a rescue and their landing on Italy’s southernmost island on August 18.
They were picked up by a Romanian patrol boat taking part in a Frontex mission, a spokesperson for the European Union’s border agency said, describing the circumstances as “an unusual occurrence.”
“It was a very difficult journey, but we were adventurers. We had strong hope that we would arrive, and God gave us strength,” said Bassem, who did not share his surname.
“The way they came was pretty unique,” said Filippo Ungaro, spokesperson for UNHCR Italy, confirming that authorities recorded their arrival in Italy after a jet ski journey from the Libyan port of Al-Khoms and a rescue off Lampedusa.
In a straight line, Al-Khoms is about 350 km from Lampedusa.
Abu Dakha contacted Reuters while staying in Lampedusa’s migrant center, after being told by a member of the staff there that his arrival via jet ski had been reported by local media.
From that point he shared material and documents, although Reuters was unable to confirm certain aspects of his account.

FROM LAMPEDUSA TO GERMANY
From Lampedusa, the odyssey continued. The three men were taken by ferry to mainland Sicily, then transferred to Genoa in northwestern Italy, but escaped from the bus transporting them before getting to their destination.
A spokesperson for the Italian interior ministry said it had no specific information about the trio’s movements.
After hiding in bushes for a few hours, Abu Dakha took a plane from Genoa to Brussels. He shared with Reuters a boarding card in his name for a low-cost flight from Genoa to Brussels Charleroi, dated August 23.
From Brussels, he said he traveled to Germany, first taking a train to Cologne, then to Osnabrueck in Lower Saxony, where a relative picked him up by car and took him to Bramsche, a nearby town.
He says he has applied for asylum, and is waiting for a court to examine his application, with no date set yet for a hearing. He has no job or income and is staying in a local center for asylum seekers.
Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees declined to comment on his case, citing privacy reasons.
Abu Dakha’s family remains in a tent camp in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, their home destroyed.
“He had an Internet shop, and his work, thank God, was comfortable financially and everything. He had built things up, and it all collapsed,” said his father, Intesar Khouder Abu Dakha, speaking from Gaza.
Abu Dakha hopes to win the right to stay in Germany, and bring over his wife and two children, aged four and six. He said one of them suffers from a neurological condition requiring medical care.
“That’s why I risked my life on a jet ski,” he said. “Without my family, life has no meaning.”

DUBAI: Qatar prepared Monday to host a summit over Israel’s attack on Hamas leaders in Doha last week, hoping a group of Arab and Islamic nations will offer a way to restrain Israel as its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip grinds on.
The attack on Hamas leaders came as Qatar serves as a key mediator in an effort to reach a ceasefire in the war, something Doha insisted it will continue to do even after the assault.
Since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Israel has retaliated against the militant group and others in Iran’s so-called “Axis of Resistance,” launching strikes in Iran, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Syria, Qatar and Yemen. That’s led to a wider anger by Mideast nations already enraged by the over 64,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza – and a growing concern that the US security umbrella in the Gulf Arab states may not be enough to protect them.
“It is time for the international community to stop applying double standards and punish Israel for all the crimes it has committed,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, told a meeting Sunday.
However, it remains unclear just what the summit will be able to achieve, given some nations already have diplomatic recognition deals with Israel and may be reluctant to sever ties.
“Considering the deep tensions between the Gulf states and other regional actors, assembling the summit in less than a week, especially given its scale, is a notable achievement that underscores a shared sense of urgency in the region,” the New York-based Soufan Center said. “The key question is whether ... (the summit will) signal a shift toward more consequential measures against Israel, including diplomatic downgrades, targeted economic actions and restrictions on airspace and access.”
Iran, which attacked Qatar in June, attending summit
Iran, which struck Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar after America bombed its nuclear sites in June during its war with Israel, sent President Masoud Pezeshkian to attend the meeting. Before leaving Tehran, Pezeshkian noted the wide breadth of nations Israel has attacked since Oct. 7.
“This regime has attacked many Islamic countries, including Qatar, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran and Yemen,” he said. “It does whatever it wants, and unfortunately, the United States and European countries also support these actions.”
Writing on the social platform X, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi added: “Iran stands with Qatar and indeed all Muslim brothers and sisters, particularly against the scourge that is terrorizing the region.” Araghchi and Pezeshkian did not mention Iran’s attack on Qatar.
Qatar has been key in Israel-Hamas war talks
Qatar, an energy-rich nation on the Arabian Peninsula that hosted the 2022 World Cup, long has served as an intermediary in conflicts. For years, it has hosted Hamas’ political leadership at the request of the US, providing a channel for Israel to negotiate with the militant group that has controlled Gaza for years.
But as the Israel-Hamas war has raged on, Qatar increasingly has been criticized by hard-liners within Netanyahu’s government. Netanyahu himself has vowed to strike all those who organized the Hamas-led attack on Israel in 2023, and in the time since the attack in Qatar, he has doubled down on saying Qatar remains a possible target if Hamas leaders are there.
On Sunday, US President Donald Trump offered renewed support for Qatar.
“We’re with them. You know, they’ve been a great ally,” Trump said. “A lot of people don’t understand about Qatar. Qatar has been a great ally, and they also lead a very difficult life because they’re right in the middle of everything.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in Israel on Monday for meetings with Netanyahu and other Israeli officials to express America’s concern over the attack on Qatar and talk about Israel’s planned new offensive on Gaza City.
Netanyahu faces increasing pressure from the Israeli public over the fate of the remaining hostages held in Gaza. There are still 48 hostages remaining in Gaza, of whom 20 are believed by Israel to still be alive. Israel’s offensives in Gaza has killed more than 64,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who do not say how many were civilians or combatants. It says around half of those killed were women and children.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251.