'We left our father to die': Tearful reunions in Dublin Airport amid fear for those left behind in Gaza

Khalid el-Astal went down on his knees and sobbed as he embraced his young children as soon as the doors of the arrivals opened. Picture: Alison O'Reilly

Two young children who lost their mother in an Israeli air strike were hugged by their emotional father as they reunited in Dublin airport last night.

Khalid el-Astal went down on his knees and sobbed as he embraced his young children as soon as the doors of the arrivals opened.

There were extraordinary scenes in Terminal 1 when more Irish citizens were reunited with their loved ones after being evacuated from Gaza by the Irish Government last week.

They are the second group of passengers who flew into Dublin airport from Cairo – more families arrived on Saturday afternoon.

Last week, Mr el-Astal’s wife Ashwak Jendia, died from severe injuries she sustained during an Israeli airstrike while he was working in Dubai.

Their children, Ali, four, and Sara, one, were cared for by their uncle who crossed the border into Egypt with them, while their father flew to Dublin to await their arrival.

They landed in the airport just before 7pm after a lengthy flight delay from Cairo which was due to arrive at 12.30pm on Sunday afternoon.

Mr el-Astal buried his head into his children’s arms and sat for a moment on the ground with them as he became overcome with emotion.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, he said he wasn’t even sure his little girl knew who he was as he held her tight.

“Their mother is dead,” he said, “She is gone, but we will be ok, I’ll take care of them.

“I love you all, I am happy to be in this country, there is a lot of love, all of them looked after me from day one.

"I have my kids now. They are good. I don’t know, I can’t describe it (when they arrived) I don’t think my daughter knows me.

“It was a long wait. My wife is dead. My brother, I have him it is ok. We will be ok, we will do everything. Thank you for everyone, even for the press, for everyone who helped.

These people here are my family now. They will stay forever. Thank you, everyone.” 

He described how he has “no home” to go to yet and that he will stay with a friend for the moment.

“I have no place yet,” he said. “I don’t know, I don’t know where to go now. It’s ok I have my children now. We want a place now, we want a place, it is with the government now”.

When asked how he felt about hopes of a ceasefire between Israeli and Palestine he said: “I can’t trust a ceasefire, I can’t believe that anything like this will happen. I hope for peace”.

“I am so worried about my extended family left behind. We live moment to moment waiting for the news”.

Another 19-year-old Irish citizen explained how he has “absolutely nowhere to go” with his young siblings and their mother after he flew into Ireland.

Fighting back tears, Mazen Haia, 19, said he will “sleep on the streets” if he has to.

“It is very difficult, now I don’t know how my life will continue. We left our father to die and my cousin, I don’t know how our lives will continue after that.

They bombed our university, they bombed schools, they bombed our houses; we were all praying to get out. We were told to get out of our houses.

“There were dead bodies when we were walking, animals, donkeys. We left everything.

"I only have some clothes, only this, we don’t have any money now, I don’t know how our life will continue. I can’t imagine.

“Now I am responsible for all these kids, how can this happen? I don’t know. This is my cousin, my mum, these are my brothers.

"I am 19. I am in second year in college studying computer engineering at the University of Gaza and they bombed it (and) all our schools.

We don’t have no education, phones, money, literally we don’t have anything. We don’t have our own father.

“Our father lost his job and communications is hard now anytime we can receive a message, that it could be ‘your father is dead’. It’s a disaster, we don’t know what to do”.

Mr Haia said the last time he was in Ireland with his family was in 2011.

“We rented then; we were very young” he continued. “Right now, we don’t have anywhere to go, we will talk to the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs). I don’t know what will happen.

As he held his siblings close, he said: “I am the oldest. I came here just to be safe, if I sleep on the street now it doesn’t matter.

"Thank God we are safe. But our father and her (cousin) husband, we left them at Gaza. They did not get out, I don’t know what will happen now.

“The Israeli authorities didn’t let their names on the Rafah crossing and now it is two women and me, I am the son and the father now”.