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Young Gazans risk lives to escape to Europe

War, poverty and an unrelenting blockade have made Gaza so unbearable that young Palestinians are willing to risk the dangers of illegally immigrating to Europe.
A Palestinian man looks out of his heavily damaged house at neighbouring houses which witnesses said were destroyed during the Israeli offensive, in the east of Gaza City September 3, 2014. An open-ended ceasefire between Israel and Hamas-led Gaza militants, mediated by Egypt, took effect on August 26 after a seven-week conflict. It called for an indefinite halt to hostilities, the immediate opening of Gaza's blockaded crossings with Israel and Egypt, and a widening of the territory's fishing zone in the Me
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RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Illegal immigration through the shores of Italy to European countries has become the last resort for hundreds of young people escaping war and misery in Gaza.

On June 24, two weeks before Israel’s war against the Gaza Strip and after dreaming about immigration for three years, brothers Amr, 20, and Khaled, 19, (both pseudonyms) began their illegal journey from Gaza to Sweden.

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