Irish diplomats today said they were working to assist a Galway woman and her daughter stranded in Gaza after illegally crossing the border with Egypt on an aid mission.
Treasa Ni Cheannabhain, her 19-year-old daughter, Naisrin Elsafty, and Egyptian niece, Seham Elhotty (26) have not been allowed to return to Egypt since entering the troubled Hamas-controlled territory five days ago.
Ms Ni Cheannabhain, concerned for her daughter and niece's safety after fighting broke out close to them, has appealed to both the Egyptian authorities and the Irish embassy in Cairo for help.
"The Department of Foreign Affairs, through our embassy in Cairo, is working to assist Ms Ni Cheannabhain, and continue to engage with Egyptian and Palestinian authorities to bring this difficult situation to a satisfactory conclusion," a spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said.
Ms Ni Cheannabhain and her daughter arrived in Egypt last Thursday to give €7,700 to the Palestinian people on behalf of the Galway-Palestinian Children's Fund.
When their legal attempts to gain access to Egypt were unsuccessful, the trio decided to take a taxi across the normally heavily fortified border, which had been demolished after militants blew it up more than a fortnight ago.
Ms Ni Cheannabhain, who works for her Egyptian-born husband in Knocknacarra, Co Galway, said she stuffed the money into her handbag and hid it under long robes which she wore to cover her body and face.
After three days' touring orphanages and distributing the money, the group travelled to the border town of Rafah on Tuesday to return to Egypt but found the crossing closed.
Ms Ni Cheannabhain said that while Egyptian nationals were allowed across, authorities refused to let the trio go back because they had crossed into the Gaza Strip illegally.
"They were letting Egyptians through and we thought we'd be let through as my niece is Egyptian, my daughter is half-Egyptian and I have an indefinite Egyptian visa stamp on my passport," she said.