The mothers of sick Palestinian children who were medically evacuated from Gaza to Ireland have pleaded with the Government to be reunited with their husbands and remaining children.
One of the mothers said they were “living in fear of the moment when we learn we have lost our families”.
Eight sick children, seven mothers, one adult sister and 11 younger siblings arrived in Dublin Airport on December 19th, 2024, via Egypt.
Their arrival followed an appeal from the World Health Organisation for European Union countries to accept children whose treatment had stopped because of the war in Gaza.
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The Government secured approval last September to evacuate up to 30 children being treated for cancer, haemodialysis – a treatment for kidney failure – and other severe medical conditions from Gaza.
The group have been living in a private residential housing complex in South Dublin since December and a second group are due to arrive in the coming weeks.
The acting spokeswoman for the group, a woman named Asma*, said the Irish medical care for their children had been “excellent” and that the families finally feel safe.
They are desperately worried, however, about the safety of their husbands, children and other immediate family members who they left behind, particularly since Israeli forces resumed bombardments on the Gaza Strip in mid-March.
“Even if we are safe here, we’re worrying about our husbands all the time,” she said, speaking with the help of an interpreter during a meeting with The Irish Times at the housing complex.
[ Israel says it will expand Gaza military operation, seize large areas of enclaveOpens in new window ]
“They don’t have the opportunity to live. We are begging – begging – for help to bring them here because, at any moment, we could lose them.”
Asma is joined by seven other carers and a handful of their children, including 10-year-old Sara who sits patiently through the conversation with her leg propped up on a chair.
Sara was injured by shrapnel after her home in Gaza was bombed and is one of the eight children receiving specialist treatment in Dublin. The eldest child receiving care – a 17-year-old with cancer – did not join the conversation.
“She cries every day because she looks at the phone and sees videos of the death in Gaza,” said her mother. “She is very worried about her dad and the rest of her family members.”
The lack of electricity and phone connection in Gaza means the women rarely speak directly to their loved ones. When they do communicate, they “beg us to get them out of Gaza. There is no food, no water, no electricity, no life,” said one member of the group.
One mother describes how her nine-year-old and 12-year-old daughters, who were injured in Israeli air strikes four years ago, must constantly move from camp to camp on foot. Zainab (19), who came to Ireland as her younger brother’s carer, says she is afraid for her parents and younger sibling she left behind.
Asked how the group has felt since the fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire collapsed, one mother said: “We feel it’s the end. There is no hope. I don’t want to lie. There is really no hope.”
Asma said: “It’s safe for us here but it’s not a real life when half of our families are still there.
“We can’t live like this because we always think about our family. They don’t have the opportunity to live. We hold our phones in our hands because we are expecting to get that message that we have lost our husbands or children.”
The women said they accepted Ireland’s medical evacuation offer in the belief that their husbands and remaining children, who are still in Gaza, could follow them over.
“Before we left Egypt, [Irish officials] gathered us together and explained we could do reunification with our family when we arrived here,” said Asma.
“We came here believing our whole families could follow. They didn’t give a specific date or time but told us once we entered Ireland, we’d have the capacity to bring our families here and settle. We’ve now been told the reunification process takes a very long time.”
As medical evacuees, the group are not asylum seekers and hold “Stamp 4″ permission to remain in Ireland. These visa holders may apply for family reunification after 12 months in the country but must meet a specific financial threshold based on the number of family members being sponsored.
A spokeswoman for the HSE, which has led the co-ordination of health services for the children since their arrival, said all the families were provided with “standardised information outlining the medical evacuation process” in both English and Arabic before they left Egypt last year.
This information “clearly outlines the visa stamp entitlements for families” but “does not include information on entitlements to bring other family members as this was not a condition of the medical evacuation offer”.
Asked whether the women could make an early application for family reunification under the extenuating circumstances of the war in Gaza, a Department of Justice spokesman said it could not comment on individual cases.
“Immigration stamps are administrative categories and everyone who has a ‘Stamp 4′ has the same immigration conditions,” he said.
“The conditions do not vary depending on the reason why an individual was granted the stamp.”
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Niall O’Keeffe from the Irish Red Cross, which was contracted by the Department of Health to support the families once they arrived in Ireland, said the “main objective was providing medical care to the children” but acknowledged lessons should be learned from the medical evacuation.
“There should be better awareness raising so the families, when they’re choosing to come here, have a full understanding of what will happen,” said Mr O’Keeffe.
“It’s a really difficult scenario. Even if the families did get all the information upfront, they’re coming from traumatic experiences and have to balance the importance of medical treatment for their children.”
The Irish Red Cross (IRC) is currently focused on enrolling the children in school and securing “longer-term, more sustainable” housing for the families, once the lease with the private residential centre where they’re staying ends in September.
The IRC hopes to find Irish hosts through the charity’s Register of Pledges programme, which has also been used to house Ukrainian refugees, said Mr O’Keeffe.
“If anyone out there wants to offer longer-term accommodation for these families, that would be welcomed,” he said.
For now, the women will continue bringing their children to hospital appointments while following reports of bombardments in Gaza on their phones.
*pseudonyms used to protect women and children’s identities
