By Diego Oré
MEXICO CITY, Oct 2 (Reuters) – Loud noises still cause anxiety for Mohammed Abed, a Palestinian systems engineer from Gaza. The planes that crisscross the skies of Mexico City and the rumble of summer thunder evoke memories of the 2025 Israeli bombing campaign in Gaza, where an air strike killed his 4-year-old daughter.
The 36-year-old arrived in Mexico last spring with 17 family members seeking asylum. These days, Tuesday mornings begin not with fear of bombardment but with work. Before sunrise, he loads his motorized tricycle with Palestinian food to sell at an open-air market in Condesa, one of the capital’s most cosmopolitan neighborhoods.
Abed is one of roughly 160 Palestinians living in Mexico, part of the nearly 1.9 million people displaced from their homes since the war in Gaza began in 2023. Most remain in the territory and many of those who left have resettled in neighboring Egypt and Jordan. But a tiny fraction have made their way to Mexico, helping to roughly double the country’s Palestinian population since 2022, according to official figures.
“In Gaza, during the war, hearing a plane meant that something terrible could happen at any moment,” Abed said during a break from selling hummus, baba ganoush, falafel, shawarma and kebab. “The sound makes me remember everything we went through, and my body reacts before I can even think.”
Abed’s path to Mexico was winding.
It started with his father, Kamal Abed, a Palestinian who emigrated to Mexico more than a decade ago to escape the conflict in Gaza and eventually obtained Mexican citizenship. After the war’s outbreak in Gaza, Kamal launched a campaign to get his family out of the enclave.
In 2024, Kamal traveled to Egypt to try to arrange their evacuation, but died of a heart attack before he could complete the process. Another son, Abed’s brother Shadi, took up the effort and, with the support of civil organizations and asylum lawyers in Mexico, secured travel authorization for 18 family members, including several children.
After months of paperwork and negotiations to leave Gaza, the family crossed into Jordan, passed through Turkey, and finally arrived in Mexico City in May 2025, where they have all obtained permanent residency.
“I don’t like politics,” Abed said. “I want to live, like everyone else, in peace.”
Little by little, Abed has become known among customers who enjoy his dishes and are moved by his story. On Sundays, he sells his products at another market in Mexico City, and when he’s not there, helps his wife prepare Palestinian food banquets she caters for special occasions.
Abed’s younger brother, Fadi, also sells Palestinian food in Mexico City. With his exuberant personality, he has built a following of 48,000 on Instagram under the handle hijo.de.palestina (“son of Palestine”), posting videos of his growing food business in heavily accented Spanish.
Abed’s family keeps expanding. He is trying to bring his two sisters from Gaza. And in May, his youngest son, Yusuf, was born in Mexico City, automatically making him a Mexican citizen.
“He was born in Mexico but carries the roots of Gaza in his heart,” Abed said.
(Reporting by Diego Oré; Editing by Emily Green and Lincoln Feast.)
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