Darwish Qahwaji had a beautiful life in Gaza. He lived in a big house and had a good job, managing a medical warehouse. His two elder daughters were studying science and engineering at university, and his two boys were getting close to graduating from high school. 

He didn't want to leave Gaza, but now he is halfway across the world living in suburban Melbourne with his wife and four children. "I miss everything there," he says. "I'm not a young man, it's difficult to restart your life."

The family are in the process of applying for a permanent protection visa which, if it is approved, would allow them to remain in Australia indefinitely.

Mr Qahwaji says his children are happy here. The two younger boys are in school and one is even playing football again. Australia is their only option right now, he says, and he's grateful to be here. But still, he hopes it's not forever.

"We hope to return to Gaza ... but we have no choice," the 53-year-old says. 

Since October, about 1,300 Palestinian Authority passport holders have arrived in Australia. Of these, at least 749 have claimed asylum, according to data from the Department of Home Affairs. Last month, they were the second largest group seeking protection in Australia, behind China

Most of this group arrived on months-long temporary visitor visas, many of which have since expired or are close to expiring. 

Unlike previous conflicts, the federal government has yet to establish a dedicated humanitarian visa for people fleeing the conflict. This means those who fled Gaza before the borders were shut down, arrived in Australia with no work rights, no access to Medicare, and no certainty about their future. 

So as the war in Gaza continues, Palestinian advocates and refugee legal services say it leaves really only one option for those already in Australia: to embark on the often years-long process of seeking permanent asylum.

Three months of uncertainty

Mr Qahwaji and his family arrived in Australia earlier this year on a three-month visitor visa (subclass 600) after being invited by his sister-in-law who was already living in the country. 

The visitor visa expired last month and the family is now on a bridging visa while their asylum claim is processed. Just getting to Australia was an arduous process — Mr Qahwaji says it cost $5,000 a person just to cross into Egypt.

It's a similar story to many of the cases Sarah Dale, the principal director at Refugee Advice and Casework Service (RACS) in Sydney, is working on. RACS is assisting about 380 individuals who have arrived from Palestine since October, she says, a "large majority" of whom are either in the process of applying for protection or planning to. 

That group is made up of people who are still covered by the temporary visa they arrived on — "most of them being a tourist visa" — and others who have transitioned onto bridging visas, which are commonly granted to people seeking asylum while their claim is considered.

"A tourist visa doesn't really provide a pathway for other visa options once you're here, except the possibility of a partner visa or a protection visa," Ms Dale says.

"Those fleeing Gaza are mainly family units, so that partner or family visa option isn't available to them and so … the only real option is that of being recognised as a refugee."

To be eligible for a protection visa, an applicant must either be found to be a refugee or satisfy the "complementary protection" requirement, which covers when a person would be at risk of "significant harm" — such as the death penalty or torture — if they returned home. 

'It is a question of saving your life'

Saadou Khalaf was a successful dentist and university lecturer in Gaza. In Sydney, he's a shopkeeper, or meat factory worker, or a warehouse packer, or anything else he can pick up a casual shift doing. 

"I say to myself: 'You are a professional and you have to continue to be a professional,'" he says. "Any work that is given to me, I try to do in a very proper way."

He is thankful to be allowed to work at all, after arriving with his family in March on a three-month visitor visa that did not allow him to earn money. Since applying for a permanent protection visa, his bridging visa allows him to work and access Medicare — but that's not the case for other Palestinians who were initially granted six or 12-month temporary visas.

That is because the bridging visa does not kick in until the original visa has lapsed.

While Dr Khalaf, who is 47, has been welcomed by his new community, he says the past seven months have been hard, especially because his extensive qualifications are not recognised in Australia.

"I'm not going from Gaza to Australia trying to find a position to work, I am coming fleeing from war," he says. "It has been a nightmare for me not having my certificates recognised and trying to do a career shift."

His family was displaced from their home a day after the war began, on October 8, he says. From there they moved around Gaza, before eventually crossing into Egypt. Now he hopes they'll be able to build a new life in Sydney's western suburbs. 

"My life in Gaza was a very, very good life … but suddenly in seconds all our dreams and plans were just destroyed," he says.

"It is not a question of loving your country or not, it is a question of saving your life or not."

Visa process under scrutiny

The process by which the roughly 1,300 Gazans arrived in Australia has come under increasing amounts of scrutiny in recent weeks, with fiery exchanges erupting in parliament. 

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton last month called for a temporary ban on visas for people fleeing the war, citing security concerns, while the government accused the Coalition of sowing division.

This week, Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson accused the government of "improperly" granting tourist visas to people fleeing Gaza in the first instance, because it knew they had no intention of returning at their expiry.

"They should have been taken to a third country where they could be removed from danger but assessed carefully," he told Sky News.

Ms Dale says RACS has been calling on the government to introduce a new visa stream for Palestinians who have escaped the war. And while she's heard a specific pathway could be announced, they're "still yet to see that detail". 

"There really needs to be another visa category that is fit for purpose for people that do need to flee in emergency situations, as we've seen with Gaza," she says.

"The experience of most people we've spoken to who seek asylum in Australia is that remaining here permanently is usually a last resort."