‘Fear is all day, all night. Near 4,000 children dead. It’s beyond imagination’
Families in fear as other western nationals are evacuated ‘but not Irish’
TERRIFIED Irish citizens left wondering when they will be able to escape the Israeli bombing of Gaza have described the fear and horrific conditions they are having to endure.
Zak Hania, who is in the north west of Gaza with his four Dublin-born sons who are aged between 10 and 19, spoke yesterday to the Irish Mail on Sunday.
Mr Hania, who lived in Castleknock, Dublin, before returning to Gaza a number of years ago, told the MoS: ‘We haven’t had electricity for more than two weeks. If you look from the windows it is complete darkness, you don’t see anything. We charged our phones and batteries with people who have solar panels.
‘In the last half an hour two
‘Bombs shake the houses, the windows’
bombs were very close to us. One was about two or three hundred metres away. It shakes the houses, the windows, the curtains,’ he said.
‘It is very scary. I just heard some of my extended family were in a house and they attacked them, I don’t know who is injured or dead.
‘It’s a hell on earth. It’s a massacre, a genocide. Fear is all day and night. We are stressed, nervous, angry. I am full of anger because governments are supporting this criminal regime.
‘We are really angry about the world. We are abandoned and everybody is dying. Almost 4,000 children dead. It is beyond imagination, beyond humanity.’
Mr Hania said he has ‘difficulty comprehending what is happening to us in front of the whole world, and people are watching live on the TV and doing nothing.’
He added: ‘The Department of Foreign Affairs are in contact and update me daily about the situation. They said to me Irish citizens are not on the list yet.
‘We are asking for an immediate ceasefire, that is the most important thing to happen to stop this mass killing. We are exhausted, we are hearing the bombs all of the time and it’s very loud and scary. It shakes the air.’
Meanwhile, another Irish citizen trapped in Gaza with his young family fears they will never get out after he received word yesterday that the border into neighbouring Egypt will not open.
Ibrihim Alagha told the MoS how all other Western countries have been evacuated, ‘but not the Irish’.
He now fears that because the countries with ‘influence’ are gone, he and his wife Hamida and their three Irish-born children, Sami, 8, Eileen, 4, and Omar, 3 will be left behind.
They travelled to visit family during the summer, and were due to return to their home in Blanchardstown in west Dublin in October. His three children have only ever known life in Ireland, but now remain stuck in a war zone with bombs going off, people being killed around them.
Mr Alagha said: ‘There are four lists that have come out so far with nationalities that are clear to evacuate. The US, UK and all EU countries – but not Ireland.
‘I tried to get an explanation on how all EU countries were on the list and Ireland was not, and unfortunately I just got the news half an hour ago that the border is closed and there won’t be a list tomorrow. It’s not going to open tomorrow.’
Mr Alagha said he now fears, ‘with all the Western countries out, there won’t be any pressure to reopen the borders.’
He criticised the ‘show’ response from the Department.
He added: ‘I have a feeling this whole operation isn’t being handled properly to be honest,’ he said.
Mr Alagha has a theory that Ireland being more critical of Israel than most EU countries could be a factor. ‘The other option is they are just not handling it properly and they are not up-to-date with all the information. It could be either one.’
Mr Alagha said that although his family is in the supposed ‘safe’ southern part of Gaza, people are dying around them.
‘There is a lot of bombing, a lot of people are being killed. There is an extreme shortage of food and water and power supply,’ he said
‘Our children are really scared and frightened. I have an apartment in Gaza city and the whole building was targeted and I lost everything there. I came out of that apartment with nothing except my clothes and my documents.’
He said that although his family are all uninjured, their situation could change in an instant. He urged the Irish Government to act quickly to ensure their survival.
‘Thank God we are all OK and no one is injured inside my family, but there is a lot of uncertainty and a lot of things that can happen quick and fast,’ he said.
Mr Alagha said there are around 40 Irish passport holders currently in Gaza, including his family. ‘In my group there are eight. It is me, my family, my brother and my sister and her daughter as well.
‘Sami, my eight-year-old, it is only his second time visiting Gaza. Sami is just beside me here, it is difficult to explain how we are doing, but we are all scared.’ he said.
‘I demanded an answer of how come all western countries were evacuated and we were not and I haven’t got any answer yet. All the important countries, all the ones with influence are gone.’
In response to queries from the MoS, a Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said: ‘There are an estimated 8,000 foreign and dual nationals, and immediate dependants, in Gaza who are seeking to leave. The evacuations are being managed country-by-country, on a phased basis. We continue to urgently seek to have Irish citizens included on the list in the coming days. Our embassies in Cairo and Tel Aviv are in regular communication with the authorities in Egypt and Israel.
‘We also remain in ongoing communication with Irish citizens on the ground.’
‘all the important countries are gone’