Every time a plane flies overhead, Mohanad al-Sindawy shudders. It takes him a moment to remember he isn’t in Gaza anymore and that no one is bombing the Egyptian capital.

“But the sound terrifies us every time, even passing cars remind us of missiles,” the 23-year-old Palestinian told AFP in Cairo.

The offensive raging since October 7 between Israel and Hamas has sent tens of thousands of Palestinians fleeing Gaza to neighbouring Egypt where they are granted temporary stays.

Although Egypt insists it won’t do Israel’s bidding by allowing permanent refugee camps on its territory, it has allowed in medical evacuees, dual passport holders and others who somehow managed to escape.

Sindawy, who worked in digital marketing back in Gaza, could find work online but said he “can’t concentrate” on anything except “following the news and making sure our families are safe”.

As the bloodiest ever Gaza offensive grinds on just a five-hour-drive away, he said, “we can’t even think about what comes next for us until there’s a ceasefire”.

Like him, many Gazans are traumatised, disoriented in exile and struggling to find help.