“The details of our life are horrifying. You cannot imagine,” says Isam Hamad (58), who has been trapped in Rafah for months now, awaiting safe passage through Egypt with his wife and children, including his son, Hamza (27), who is an Irish citizen.
Hamza Hamad was born in the Coombe Hospital in Dublin in 1997 and carries Irish citizenship, as the family lived in Ireland for some years while Isam studied electronics engineering in what was then Waterford Regional Technical College.
The family returned to Gaza in the 2000s, and in 2008, Isam became the regional manager for a medical equipment company.
Despite his Irish citizenship, Hamza and his family have been unable to evacuate, as Hamza has cerebral palsy and cannot leave without his family’s support.
The family are currently living in a small building with 46 other people in the city of Rafah, in the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip. The conditions are like a prison, Isam said.
“We lived in Gaza in our own home. Unfortunately, we were asked by the Israelis to leave home and head to the south of Gaza Strip. I am now in Rafah for four months,” Isam told The Irish Times.
A total of 28,473 Palestinians have been killed and 68,146 have been wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7th, Gaza’s health ministry said on Tuesday.
Early on Monday, Israel launched air strikes in Rafah, the area near the Egyptian border where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have taken refuge after months of conflict.
International voices, including US president Joe Biden and aid agencies, have cautioned against an expected ground assault on Rafah given the high risk to the civilian population now concentrated there.
“We have seen bombing of hospitals, people killed in the streets,” Isam said, adding: “Gaza is finished”.
Isam and his family contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs in Ireland in mid-November to ask for assistance and were offered family reunion visas through Hamza, for Isam, his wife and two of their children who are under 18.
“I asked them to include our boy who is 19 and our girl who is 24. They said the law does not allow for that,” Isam said.
Isam has seven children, two of whom are married and have their own families now, but five, including Hamza, were dependent on him, and he would not leave any of them behind and in danger, he said.
It was terrible to think of leaving Gaza, he said, but the situation was “very threatening” and what they were witnessing and experiencing was worse.
“We are living in miserable conditions. The conditions in Rafah now are very threatening as the Israelis are preparing for an invasion. It will be like what they did in Gaza. Bombing and killing civilians everywhere and shooting everything,” Isam said.
That is “in addition to hunger”, which Isam said was “a fact now” for everybody.
The family have been in limbo in the four months since the war began, awaiting news of whether they could make safe passage into Egypt and on to Ireland.
On December 6th, Israel approved the crossing of Hamza and his youngest brother, but did not issue approvals to leave for Isam, his wife and their other children.
“Hamza cannot leave without us, as he is totally dependent on our care,” he said.
“The details of our life are horrifying ... Food is very limited. We are living on cans. The cans are a few types – only fava beans, white beans, chick beans. Biscuits and halva bars, and tuna cans are the only source of protein. There is no meat, no chicken. Cooking is very limited.”
Water was also extremely limited, Isam said, and the family had only been able to take a shower roughly every eight days.
The family are known to the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Irish Embassy in Cairo and several aid agencies. Despite having the necessary documentation to leave Rafah via the crossing into Egypt, they remain “trapped”.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said it was aware of the case and is providing consular assistance. A spokeswoman said the Department does not comment on the details of individual cases.
“A small number of Irish citizens remain in Gaza. The Government, through our Embassies in the region, has consistently sought clearance for all Irish citizens who wish to exit Gaza to do so. We continue to advocate with the authorities in relation to those who have not yet been able to leave,” she said.
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