Irish-based surgeon ‘anxious and terrified’ for safety of parents and family in Gaza

An Irish-based orthopaedic surgeon whose brother-in-law was killed in Palestine last week says he is ‘anxious and terrified’ for the safety of his parents and family still in the heavily besieged Gaza.

Dr Ahmed Mahmoud, who lives in Navan, Co. Meath received news that a missile had hit the area near his sister’s home last week, killing his 55 year old brother-in-law and leaving his children and wife in the rubble.

“My sister and the children were very lucky to survive but they were in the rubble for hours, not knowing if the others were alive or dead. A missile hit and the whole house collapsed on top of them. Osam Ahmed Abumarzouq was killed. He was a librarian, a lovely, intelligent man who never harmed anyone and now he is dead and my sister is left to raise her six children on her own,” he said.

“My 77-year-old uncle was also killed in that attack, as well as a neighbour’s five-year-old daughter. Three of my sisters have evacuated their homes and have brought their children to safety at my dad’s house.

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“There is no internet there now so I have little communication with them. I’m largely depending on my cousin who lives in Egypt for updates. Some days we receive a short text from my wife’s brother that just says ‘we are still alive.’ That’s it. No other words.

“My brother-in-law’s two children, aged five and four, keep asking them if they are going to survive. Imagine that. No child should ever know fear like that.

“My parents, my five sisters and four brothers are all in the south of Gaza and my wife’s family is in the north, But no place is safe there.

“The Israelis have never needed an excuse to attack us. The world seems to be watching with only one eye, not seeing how the Palestinians have suffered over the years”

“Palestine doesn’t have a port or an airport. They don’t have the freedom to move and are suffering daily.

Dr Mahmoud has been living in Ireland for almost three years, first working as a surgeon in Our Lady’s Hospital in Navan and now in Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital, and he only brought his four children to Palestine to meet their grandparents for the first time this summer.

“It was not a nice experience for them. It was a devastating journey. We had to wait 16 hours at a checkpoint in 40 degrees of heat, with no toilet facilities and nowhere to eat. No one can understand it because no one experiences it.

“As a doctor, I’m looking at the hospitals in Gaza and their health system has already collapsed. They have no resources coming in as the only way in to Gaza has been blocked. The hospitals are being swamped with casualties and deaths every hour and many have been bombed,” he said.

“The Palestinians don’t have any hope left. There is frustration and terror in my heart now thinking of my family.”

Speaking in Athlone, Justice Minister Helen McEntee said Israel had a right to defend itself but “must do so under international law and humanitarian law”.

“It is impossible for millions of people in the Gaza Strip to move south and move away from a potential land invasion, and we as a country, our Taoiseach, our Tánaiste, and every member of the Cabinet have been clear in that,” she said.

She said it was “important” for humanitarian corridors to be opened. “We have been actively engaged with the UN in that regard, making sure firstly that we continue to contribute financial aid and support, but that we do everything we can to get that aid into people now and that we do open up those humanitarian corridors, be it to enter Egypt or otherwise,” she said.

Minister McEntee said the Department of Foreign Affairs was engaging with Irish citizens in Gaza.

“What’s become clear is the challenge, not just in Gaza but in the entire region in the West Bank and beyond, is that we have to take each day as it comes but be mindful that we have our own teams on the ground that we need to keep safe,” she said.

“They’re doing a very important job in linking in with those who are Irish citizens, who have connections to Ireland, how we can help them, how we can support them, but also our own troops. They are world-renowned for their peacekeeping missions and abilities to negotiate and support people on the ground, that’s what they are doing now but we just have to keep everything under consideration and take it day-by-day.”