OSNABRÜCK, Germany — They are a tiny speck speeding across the Mediterranean: three men in street clothes — track pants, coats over life jackets, a “Free Palestine” cap — gripping one another on a jet ski as they drive full throttle toward Lampedusa. They left Libyan shores in the dark one August night, aiming to reach Europe and find safety for themselves and the families they had left behind in Gaza. Many cross this 186-mile stretch in overcrowded smuggling boats; this is the first known attempt on a jet ski.
“I look at these photos and think ‘I still can’t believe I did that,'” says Mohammed Abu Daqqa, 31, the jet ski’s driver, scrolling through images at a refugee welcome center in Germany. The videos and photos he posted of the journey have been shared millions of times on social media. But Abu Daqqa takes little joy in the attention: his wife and two young sons — Sanad, 6, and Mahmoud, 4 — remain in Gaza, and bringing them to safety is his only focus.
Before Oct. 7, Abu Daqqa had built a successful business providing internet and importing goods in Gaza. By 2023 he owned two homes, a newly built farmhouse in Khan Younis, and a car. After the Hamas-led attack and the Israeli offensive that followed, everything changed. Abu Daqqa says his business, car and homes were destroyed, and more than 250 members of his extended family have been killed. The Gaza Health Ministry reports the offensive has killed more than 69,000 people. His wife and children have survived repeated displacements and now live in a tent on a crowded seashore encampment; as famine gripped parts of Gaza, they went hungry.
In April 2024 he paid thousands to cross into Egypt via Rafah, planning for his family to follow, but Israel soon took control of the border and closed that route. He watched from afar as photos and voice notes arrived — children holding empty pans, pleas to be reunited. He applied for visas to countries where he hoped to claim asylum and sponsor his family; applications to Arab states including Morocco and the UAE were rejected. In Beijing he contacted the U.N. refugee agency about asylum, but before his claim was processed he says Chinese police detained him for a week and forced him to leave. He spent time in Malaysia and Indonesia. “The world is not open to people from Gaza,” he says.
Abu Daqqa traveled to Libya and stayed with relatives in Tripoli, importing motorcycles from China to start a delivery service to send money back home. On March 20 an airstrike destroyed his uncle’s home and killed everyone inside; a 25-day-old niece was the only survivor pulled from the rubble. Two months later his last standing home was destroyed. “I knew there was no time left,” he says. He decided to pay smugglers to cross to Italy but could not wait weeks for a boat.
At first the jet ski idea seemed crazy. Could a recreational craft cover 186 miles? Would storms or fuel shortages doom them? He researched the plan using ChatGPT, bought a jet ski in Tripoli for $5,000, attached a rubber dinghy to carry fuel and supplies, and found two other Palestinians to join him.
They set off about 1 a.m. on Aug. 17. “The first 70 kilometers, there were 2-meter waves, 3-meter waves,” he recalls, until the sea calmed. Video shows the men celebrating as they made progress. They ran out of fuel about 12 miles off Lampedusa. Abu Daqqa used a satellite phone to call a cousin in Germany, who contacted a migrant rescue hotline; a passing Romanian patrol boat rescued them.
Brought to Italy, Abu Daqqa did not stay long. He traveled to Germany and applied for asylum in the hope authorities will allow his family to join him. A ceasefire has eased some fear, but his family lives near areas the Israeli military still controls, amid much destruction. His oldest son recorded a voice note when the ceasefire was announced, pleading to leave Gaza now, but bureaucratic hurdles keep reunification uncertain.
Abu Daqqa says had he known how difficult it would be to secure a safe country for his family, he would not have left Gaza. “Life here without them,” he says, “is not worth living.”