‘I just made it to Egypt now. I am exhausted’: Irish citizens leave Gaza and cross to safety at Rafah

Irish citizen Ibrahim Alagha and his family have passed through the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt and expect to return to Ireland in the coming days.

Mr Alagha (38) moved to Ireland 15 years ago and had been working as an electronic engineer, living in Blanchardstown.

He, his wife Hamida, and their children Sami (8), Eileen (4) and Omar (3), who are all Irish citizens, were in Gaza City for an extended holiday to visit relatives when Israel began its bombardment.

They became stranded in the conflict zone and fled their apartment in Gaza City last month to move in with his parents in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern end of the Gaza Strip. The family had been waiting to exit Gaza through the Rafah crossing into Egypt.

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Mr Alagha told The Irish Times just before 6pm Irish time (8pm Egypt time) on Wednesday that he and his family had crossed into Egypt and were boarding a bus to Cairo. “I’m very good,” he said. “I just made it to Egypt now. I am exhausted. I can barely talk.”

He said he was informed on Tuesday that they were on the list of Irish citizens who would be permitted to make the crossing.

“We were asked to come to the border at 7am,” he said. “The border was to open about 10am. We have just finished on the Egyptian side maybe half an hour ago. It was a lengthy, lengthy process.”

He said he and his family waited in a queue while paperwork was finalised first on the Palestinian side and then again on the Egyptian side. “We are now on our way to Cairo,” he said. “We will be put up in a hotel there.

“There is a whole group of us – my wife and my in-laws – we are all together. We are all so tired. It is unbelievable. My sister [Eman Al Agha] was supposed to come today, but for some reason it hasn’t happened. She will join us tomorrow.”

He said he and his family were assisted by the Department of Foreign Affairs in the crossing. “It was only on the Egyptian side, but they took very good care of us,” he said.

Mr Alagha said the end of the ordeal was in sight for he and his family, and that they will return to Ireland “in the next three days”.

The family were among 23 Irish citizens who left Gaza through the Rafah crossing on Wednesday. Documents were being finalised on the Egyptian side with assistance from an Irish diplomat from the Cairo embassy, while a bus was waiting to transport them.

Meanwhile, Irish citizen Zak Hania said his wife Batoul and their children Mazen, Ismael, Ahmed and Nour are on the list of people who will be allowed to cross into Egypt on Thursday, but that he is not.

[ Twenty-three Irish departing Gaza after opening of Rafah crossing into Egypt ]

[ Hopes grow in Israel of possible deal with Hamas to release hostages held in Gaza ]

“Telecommunications is going to stop from tonight I think,” he said. “Tomorrow we won’t have any mobile networks.

“I was in contact with the Department of Foreign Affairs. They told me my wife and my kids names would be on the list tomorrow, but not my name. I was really frustrated and angry and disgusted at this. How can they accept this? You either put the family together or not.

“This is really unbelievable. So we are waiting. I’m waiting for them to ring me again. The situation is very difficult. We are refugees. We are homeless. It is a difficult situation. A difficult, unjust world.”

Having lived in Ireland since 1998, Mr Hania – who was born in Gaza – returned to the enclave about a decade ago, where he works as a researcher and translator. His four sons, aged between 19 and 10, were all born in Ireland.

Mr Hania lived in Castleknock, west Dublin, for a period and holds a master’s degree from Dublin City University.

Meanwhile, the two children of Belfast-born Khalid Al-Astal, aged three and one, whose mother Ashwak Jendia died from injuries sustained by an Israeli air strike last month, were not included in Wednesday’s list.

Mr Al-Astal last spoke with his two young children by phone on Tuesday. “It’s difficult to contact them because of the connection,” he said.

Elsewhere, the family of Irish Palestinian surgeon Dr Ahmed El Mokhallalati are trapped in Gaza City and were unable to make it to the Rafah crossing despite being on the list of those allowed to leave Gaza on Wednesday.

Three Irish citizens working for the UN will remain in Gaza helping to deliver the humanitarian response.