Trapped Irish citizen’s desperate plea
AN Irish citizen trapped in Gaza made a desperate plea for help as he sought refuge near a hospital where fighting between Israeli soldiers and Hamas erupted this weekend.
Zac Hania and his four Irish-born sons had taken refuge at the wartorn enclave’s biggest hospital, Al-Shifa, which was reportedly struck repeatedly in the early hours of yesterday morning and lost power after its generator was hit.
The Gaza health ministry said one person was killed and several others wounded in a strike on the hospital yesterday, a day after Palestinians reported multiple people killed and wounded as fighting raged.
Israel denies targeting hospitals and has accused Hamas of using the medical facilities as command centres and hideouts.
Speaking to the Irish Mail on Sunday near the hospital, Mr Hania – who lived in Castleknock, Dublin, for several years, gave a harrowing account of scenes at Al-Shifa.
‘What I’ve witnessed there doesn’t break the heart, it kills the heart. ‘We are in a very critical situation.’ He sighed deeply, before adding: ‘Please do something, please do something, we don’t know what is going to happen next. Please do something.’
Mr Hania said it is difficult to comprehend the number of dead children he has seen – the World Health Organization (WHO) director general Dr Tedros Adhanoum Ghebreyesus yesterday said a child is killed every 10 minutes in Gaza.
Mr Hania said his wife’s brother and niece were killed, along with the rest of her brother’s family, including five children under 15, who are all now ‘under rubble’.
He said: ‘The house we are in is in the middle of Gaza City and all artillery shells coming from the east, going west, is flying above us.’
He added that the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) are in contact with him, but they ‘can’t do much’.
In response to queries from the MoS, a DFA spokesman said: ‘The names of all Irish citizens in Gaza who have asked to be included on the list of those due to leave have been submitted to the relevant authorities. As is the case with many other countries whose citizens have not yet been permitted to depart, we do not know exactly when they will be able to leave. Our embassies in Cairo and Tel Aviv are in regular communication with the authorities in Egypt and Israel in this regard.
‘We are also in regular communication with Irish citizens on the ground and are updating them directly as we have confirmed information.’