A Galway woman who travelled into Gaza last week to distribute charity relief has been released by the Egyptian authorities and is expected to return to Ireland in coming days.
Treasa Ní Cheannabháin (56), Barna, Co Galway, was detained on Thursday night after being permitted through the Egyptian border crossing at Rafah.
She was questioned about her visit and was only released from custody yesterday at about 4pm. Ms Ní Cheannabháin was expected to meet her Egyptian husband in Egypt last night and begin planning for their return to their home in Ireland.
The couple's daughter, medical student Naisrin Elsafty (19) and Ms Ní Cheannabháin's Egyptian niece, Seham Elhotty (26), were permitted to enter Egypt last Thursday because 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.
Before her detention last Thursday, Ms Ní Cheannabháin, who is married to an Egyptian doctor Saber Elsafty, expressed concern about a 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.