Irish citizens not included in list of foreign nationals allowed to leave Gaza, says DFA

No Irish citizens have been included in the list of foreign and dual nationals who were given permission on Friday to leave Gaza and enter Egypt, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has confirmed.

Nearly 100 British citizens have reportedly been listed to leave Gaza today, two days after a number of foreign nationals and injured Palestinian people were given permission to cross the border into Egypt on Wednesday.

An estimated 8,000 foreign and dual nationals, and their immediate dependents, are trying to leave Gaza, a DFA spokeswoman said.

“The evacuations are being managed country by country on a phased basis, it will take some time for this process to be completed,” she said. “Irish citizens are not included in today’s list, but we continue to urgently seek to have Irish citizens included on the list in the coming days.

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“Our embassies in Cairo and Tel Aviv are in regular communication with the authorities in Egypt and Israel,” she said, adding that the department remained in “ongoing contact” with Irish citizens in Gaza.

Meanwhile, 21-year-old Saeed Adli Sadeq from Mayo, who was studying computer science in Gaza city, has said he is preparing to travel by horse if necessary, to get to the Rafah border crossing.

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Mr Sadeq told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that he is waiting for confirmation from DFA that Irish citizens can cross the border before he leaves Khan Yunis where he moved recently.

“I would ride a horse to get to the border. Actually, there’s no other transport way. There’s no fuel. There’s nothing. All the fuel is going to the hospitals, which is the priority.”

“The Irish ministry of foreign affairs and the Irish Embassy in Tel Aviv and in Cairo, they did not delay in performing their duty towards me as an Irish citizen. They did not stop communicating with me since day one.

“The problem is they have no official confirmation or information about when Irish citizens will be able to leave Gaza. From my opinion, it’s all about the countries and their political relationship with Israel and Egypt.

“Also, from my point of view, Ireland is a small country so I think we would get to leave after the big countries like Germany, United States, France and Belgium.”

Mr Sadeq, who is the son of writer and former Palestinian diplomat Adli Sadeq, said he is nervous about waiting as Khan Yunis has been targeted by Israeli air strikes. However, once he gets word that he can cross the border he will make his way to Rafah, by any means.

“I’m here in Gaza as an Irish citizen. The reason why is because I have done my Leaving Cert recently and I have decided to study university in Gaza. So I actually became a student at the Islamic University of Gaza. And unfortunately, it’s gone now with Israeli air strikes.”

When asked had he been fearful, he said: “I was terrified, to be honest. But it’s funny because I got used to it. Bombs everywhere. Air strikes everywhere. Day and night came. And when you live like three weeks under this situation, I think you were able to get used to it.”

In reply to a question about how he will get back to Ireland, Mr Sadeq said: “I have been told that officers from the Irish Embassy in Cairo will be waiting for us at the Egyptian side of the border. I think the plan will be to get us safely out from Gaza and then we deal with the rest ourselves.

“It’s not safe here in Khan Yunis, to be honest. There is no safe place here in Gaza. Safe does not exist. There’s bombs everywhere. Air strikes. There was an air strike 500 metres away from my house.

“Everybody here in Gaza lost something. I know many of my friends who lost their houses in the north. I know people who lost their families and personally I lost my cousin. He was a good young man. He was working as a barber to help his family with money and for himself to get married. He was killed and murdered by an Israeli air strike.”

Mr Sadeq plans to travel home to Mayo by bus from Dublin Airport. “I will be travelling back to Ireland to see my family, to see my friends, to see my neighbours and of course, to take a break and maybe to go to a therapist. I need a therapist to be honest from what I have seen here in Gaza.”