Middle East:A Galway woman who travelled into Gaza last week to distribute charity relief was still being held for questioning by Egyptian authorities last night.
Treasa Ní Cheannabháin (56), from Barna, Co Galway, was detained on Thursday night after being permitted through the Egyptian border crossing at Rafah.
Her daughter, medical student Naisrin Elsafty (19) and Ms Ní Cheannabháin's Egyptian niece, Seham Elhotty (26), were permitted to leave earlier, as Ms Elsafty, who is Irish-Egyptian, had documentation, and Ms Elhotty is an Egyptian passport holder.
The three women had travelled together into Gaza last week to distribute some €7,700 in Irish relief funds to Palestinian communities. The women had initially been prevented from entering the territory by the Egyptian authorities, and had then travelled by taxi on back roads wearing full-length niquabs or Muslim dress.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern has said his department will "do everything possible" to resolve the situation. The department said last night that the Irish Embassy in Cairo was liaising with Ms Ní Cheannabháin's family and the Egyptian authorities to determine when she would be reunited with her relatives.
As Friday was the Muslim sabbath, it could be today before Ms Ní Cheannabháin is released, a spokesman said last night.
Speaking to The Irish Times before her detention, Ms Ní Cheannabháin, who is married to an Egyptian doctor Saber Elsafty, expressed concern about a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
She said she had visited several hospitals where equipment could not be maintained, and had also visited a survivor of an Israel air strike on a Hamas security compound, which killed seven men earlier this week.
Ms Ní Cheannabháin said she and her daughter and niece were representing the Galway branch of the Irish Palestine Solidarity Campaign. The Galway-Palestinian Children's Fund raised €10,000 almost four years ago through sale of a CD, entitled An Phailistin, written by Ms Ní Cheannabháin and Donal Lunny and recorded with her daughter, sean-nós singer Róisín Elsafty and Sharon Shannon. Some €3,000 had already been allocated to orphanages and the balance was taken to the region by the women this week. Ms Ní Cheannabháin's husband was en route to Egypt yesterday.
