Irish passport holder Ayman Shaheen is within 700 metres of the Rafah border crossing and is hopeful that he, his wife and teenage children will get to leave Gaza soon.
Speaking on RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland, Mr Shaheen, who lived in Dublin for nine years with his family, said: “I actually am very close to the Egyptian border now. I am talking to you and I can see the Egyptian border. It is 700 metres away.”
Mr Shaheen said he had been receiving regular updates from the Department of Foreign Affairs.
“They told me the Rafah crossing for today is open, but it is not for Irish passport holders. It is for a certain number of nationals, and it will be country by country within the coming days.”
Asked if he was nervous about waiting, Mr Shaheen said his personality was “a bit cool”, although, “things are really bad”.
“Thank God we are not in Gaza City or in the north in general, and we are safer than if we are in Gaza.”
Mr Shaheen, who is a political science specialist, said he felt the bombardments on Rafah were fewer than on Gaza City.
“So their focus now is on Gaza City and the north in their area. That's why bombardments actually decrease. And in general, that is the situation.”
He said he was fortunate that he had been able to leave, there were foreign nationals remaining in Gaza city who wanted to get out but they were unable to do so.
Once he and his family get over the border, their plan is to go to Cairo and from there to Dublin, he said.
It comes as pressing an offensive against Hamas militants, Israel has bombed Gaza by land, sea and air in its campaign to wipe out the Iran-backed Islamist group after its cross-border rampage into southern Israel on October 7th.
Israel said Hamas gunmen killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 200 hostages.
The Gaza health ministry says at least 8,796 Palestinians in the narrow coastal enclave, including 3,648 children, have been killed by Israeli strikes.
-Additional reporting Reuters
