The phone never leaves Alaa Najja’s side. With every alert her body stiffens. This time it’s from Rafah. It might be bad news.
“I really don’t sleep much anymore,” she said softly.
“Even in my dreams I see and feel the war.”
From a modest apartment in Wollongong, the 32-year-old mother flips between video calls with her children and urgent WhatsApp messages from family still living in Gaza.
It’s been months since she’s heard her father’s voice.
“Sometimes I think silence is worse than sirens,” she said.
Ms Najja arrived in Australia in 2019, four years before war engulfed Gaza.
But when the bombs began falling in October 2023, the ground beneath her cracked open again, this time from 14,000 kilometres away.
Her parents, siblings, and few extended families are still in Rafah, where airstrikes have devastated the neighbourhood.
“I wake up every day not knowing if they’re alive,” she said.
“There are days when I have to force myself to eat.
“It feels like I’m living in two worlds. One is safe and one is on fire.”
For Palestinians like Ms Najja, the war has triggered a second, quieter battle: navigating Australia’s visa system in the hope of securing temporary safety for loved ones before it’s too late.
The process, she said, is ‘dehumanising’.
Since October 7, 2023 more than 64,000 Palestinians have been killed and 1.9 million people displaced, according to data from the Hamas-run Ministry of Health and the United Nations.
In response to the escalating conflict, the Albanese government introduced a new pathway for temporary humanitarian stay in October 2024, framed as a lifeline for Palestinians and Israelis already in Australia.
The scheme offers a three-year humanitarian visa, but only to those invited by the Minister for the Department of Home Affairs.
Unlike traditional humanitarian and refugee programs, the pathway operates under ministerial discretion, with a two-stage process: the subclass 449 Humanitarian Stay (Temporary) visa, followed by the 786 Temporary Humanitarian Concern visa.
The 786 visa grants access to Medicare, work and study rights, and access to government services – but does not lead to permanent residency.
Figures from the Refugee Council of Australia has shown that since the conflict began, 2,564 visitor visas have been issued to Palestinians and 5,410 to Israelis.
However, a visa grant does not guarantee entry.
As of May 2024, around 1,300 Palestinians had arrived in Australia, and at least 749 had applied for asylum, according to the Department of Home Affairs.
The scheme has drawn criticism from politicians and advocates.
In a public statement, Senator David Shoebridge, the Greens’ immigration spokesperson, said the scheme’s reliance on ministerial discretion reflects broader inconsistencies in Australia’s refugee response.
“This disaster-by-disaster approach only benefits the minister at the time, who can wield discretionary visa powers based on narrow political interests,” Mr Shoebridge said.
He has described the program as a continuation of what he called an ‘ad hoc’ and reactive refugee policy, referencing earlier humanitarian responses to crises in Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, and the Ukraine.
Shoebridge has called for a return to departmental processing for humanitarian visas and the development of a consistent crisis-response policy.
The Albanese government has defended the scheme as consistent with past humanitarian responses.
In a formal written statement, the Minister for Home Affairs, Tony Burke, defended the current framework.
“After extensive security checks, we have been offering humanitarian visas to people affected by the conflict in Gaza,” Mr Burke said.
“This is the same visa which was offered to people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine.”
Despite these assurances, internal government data paints a bleak picture.
A Freedom of Information request revealed that only 49 Palestinians arrived on visitor visas in September 2024.
Between October 2023 and August 2024, the Department of Home Affairs received 10,033 visa applications from Palestinians. Of those, 2,922 were approved – a rejection rate of more than 70 per cent.
And for those granted the 786 visas, a long-term future in Australia is far from guaranteed.
The visa cannot be converted to a permanent protection visa, leaving people in a prolonged state of uncertainty.
Advocacy groups have echoed similar concerns.
Activist Leila Jones, 23, a recent member of the Palestine Action Group in Sydney, has described the government’s approach as inadequate.
“This isn’t just a visa issue,” Ms Jones said.
“It’s about whether the Australian Government actually values and believes Palestinian lives are worth saving.
“Almost two million people have been displaced.”
Ms Jones has called for a shift from what she sees as a reactive policy to a more ethical, long-term strategy.
“We’ve welcomed Ukrainian and Afghan refugees, and rightly so, but when it comes to Palestinians, it’s a different story.
“The double standard is so clear.”
Ms Jones has also criticised what she describes as a lack of transparency and urgency in the visa process.
“People are applying and then sitting in limbo for months, sometimes with no response at all,” she said.
“It’s not just a policy failure. It’s a moral failure.”
Meanwhile, conditions in Gaza have continued to deteriorate.
According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Gaza’s economy has declined by 24 per cent.
Unemployment stands at 80 per cent.
In addition, approximately 92 per cent of homes and healthcare facilities and 88 per cent of schools have been destroyed.
The estimated cost of reconstruction exceeds $53 billion.
Without substantial assistance, the UNCTAD estimates it could take up to 350 years to restore Gaza’s economy to pre-war levels.
For those who have reached Australia, temporary safety is often accompanied by uncertainty. Access to health care and employment offers limited relief in the absence of long-term stability.
According to Mr Shoebridge reforms are needed to better align the visa system with the scale and urgency of the international crises.
“We need a system that protects people,” he said.
“Not just one that reacts to the headlines.”