Riham is heavily pregnant and just days away from giving birth, but she has no idea who will cover her hospital expenses.
She fled Gaza when she was six months pregnant and has repeatedly asked the Palestinian embassy in Egypt for help, so far in vain. "All I got was promises that everything will be fine."
Riham is one of more than 100,000 Palestinians who fled to Egypt to escape the fighting in Gaza. "Now, I should give birth in a week and nothing happened."
Most are in Cairo, stuck in limbo, unable to return to Gaza but also unable to start a new life, either.
She and her compatriots lack the necessary documents and funds to rent a flat, open a bank account, pay medical bills or send their children to school.
"I have no money, no work, I will not be able to live," she says.
Riham is not her real name, she was unwilling to share it with dpa, as were others, reluctant to appear in the news.
Riham, 28, came to Cairo along with her 3-year-old son and her mother-in-law, who has breast cancer.
They did not have enough money for her husband to escape Gaza as leaving costs $5,000 and is organized through some questionable Egyptian travel agencies.
They are grateful that at least the Palestinian embassy is paying for a flat for the three of them. But life is still a struggle amid the Israeli war on Gaza, unleashed by the October 7 attacks on Israel by the militant Palestinian organization Hamas.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) does not have a mandate to help refugees in Egypt and the Gazans who have fled there are in need but are not registered as refugees.
Their residence status is unclear, they are stuck in a legal grey zone, tolerated, often invisible in the sprawling city that is home to 23 million people. Most have to find a way to manage on their own, or rely on support from other Palestinians or volunteer organizations.
The question of their residency status is "the mother of all issues," Palestinian ambassador to Egypt, Diab al-Louh, told dpa.
"I arrived here two weeks ago," says Chalid, 19. "I am on my own, living on the streets most of the time."
He lost an eye and his arm was badly injured after a bombing in Gaza - and spent three days lying under rubble. "I do not have money, I do not know where to go."
He pulls out his mobile phone to show the video he has of the moment volunteers pulled him out from below the rubble. He is almost unrecognisable his face covered in blood and dust.
Many of those who fled Gaza are injured and need medical treatment of some sort. Some have had a leg or arm amputated, others have burns. Children and young people are suffering from trauma. And then there are those with serious health problems, such as cancer patients.
Salma, who was also trapped beneath the rubble of a collapsed building, suffered severe bruising. She describes being bounced around by Egyptian doctors. Quality care is scarce in Egypt, with state hospitals often poorly equipped and staff underpaid.
The war continues to rage just hours away, as Israel seeks to eliminate Hamas, which attacked sites in southern Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people and abducted about 250 more to Gaza.
Israel responded by pounding Gaza with airstrikes and launched a ground offensive into the sealed-off Palestinian territory at the end of October with the stated aim of eliminating Hamas.
More than 37,300 people have been killed and more than 85,000 injured in the course of the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority in Gaza.
The war could go on for another six months or more, Israel's national security advisor has said.
To help Gazans in Cairo, a network of volunteers is providing as much humanitarian support as possible. Among them is a mother of two who has a full-time job but who searches for storage space for relief supplies that people donate.
Others are doctors who ask their colleagues to treat people at a lower cost, communicating through WhatsApp groups.
Another is a businessman who rents out empty flats in a Cairo suburb and makes them habitable.
One of the first was John Flynn, known as Quinn, who hurried to Egypt from the US right after the October attacks.
He made TikTok videos about his trip which drew offers from viewers who wanted to provide him with a place to stay or pay for his flight ticket, he says. He has since become a kind of grassroots ambassador, helping bring people into contact with one another.
Another helper, a 28-year-old Canadian woman, also dropped everything to come to Egypt, arriving in November and initially only planning to stay a month.
She remains in Cairo today, tirelessly ensuring that families receive essential necessities day after day.
They are part of a group of 1,600 volunteers who have travelled from places as distant as Ireland, Malaysia, and South Africa. Others support remotely by answering legal questions or managing databases.
The source of financial donations is not always clear. One Pakistani says that the $644,000 for 29 ambulances he brought to Gaza from Germany were financed by "mainly individuals" and also partly by aid organizations.
Often, sums come from non-governmental organizations abroad or through online donation campaigns. "I have a problem with holding cash that I don't know where its from, because it could get quite messy," says one volunteer.
Flynn moved on to London where he wants to raise $300,000 from donors to build a community centre in Cairo as the first point of contact for refugees from Gaza.
Help is not available from the Palestinian Authority (PA), which has limited power in the West Bank. "We have no funds due to the Israeli siege imposed on us," says Ambassador Al-Louh. "We have depended 100% on charitable institutions and societies in offering financial assistance."
These days, he is trying to obtain temporary residence permits for Palestinians from the Egyptian government so that they can work legally and send their children to school, at least for the duration of the war.
In eastern Cairo, volunteers have turned a few empty flats into a clothing store, pulling jeans out of cardboard boxes, sorting trainers for children and hanging blouses on clothes racks. "Welcome to the Pali Boutique," reads a printed notice on the wall, with the flags of Egypt and Palestine underneath.
"We're just totally overwhelmed by the volume of people," says volunteer Jennifer Mina. To get clothes or milk powder here, you have to sign up on a list. Currently you have to wait a month or longer.
Some 90% of the volunteers are Palestinians, says Mina, who comes from the US and has lived in Egypt for a long time. "Most of the work is done by themselves," she says of the Palestinians of Cairo.
