'It's absolute hell': Irish filmmaker fundraising to help former colleague escape Gaza

Cork-born filmmaker calls on Irish Government to grant temporary citizenship to Palestinian journalist and his family

Mohammed Rajab is trying to escape Gaza to bring his family to safety. Picture: GoFundMe

An Irish documentary filmmaker is fundraising to evacuate a friend and former colleague who is trapped in catastrophic conditions in Gaza.

Palestinian journalist Mohammed Rajab helped cameraman and photographer Ed Godsell, originally from Passage West, Co Cork, as a fixer and translator when he was filming in Gaza.

A woman and child were killed in a tent near Mr Rajab two nights ago when it was blown up nearby.

His family is internally displaced, sheltering near Rafah in Doctors Without Borders tents and are just minutes away from the intense fighting with nowhere else to go.

Mr Godsell worked with Mr Rajab in Gaza in 2014 when he was filming a documentary about freelance war photographers after the last Israeli incursion on the territory.

All the places Mr Godsell stayed in during his seven days in Gaza have since been destroyed, he said.

“Whole streets are being detonated,” Mr Godsell said.

At least 95 journalists have been killed in Gaza between October 7, 2023, and March 9, 2024, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Although Mr Rajab had been working in Gaza, it has become too dangerous and he is now trying to escape the strip to bring his family to safety.

Mr Rajab believes he is a target as a journalist and he is trying to get his family out, Mr Godsell said.

“It's catastrophic,” Mr Godsell said. “There's very limited food and it's dangerous.

"People are already starving to death. There are children who are now dying of malnutrition. It's absolute hell."

Mr Godsell is calling on the Irish Government to grant temporary citizenship to Mr Rajab and his family so they can be taken out of Gaza to Egypt and then to Ireland.

Ireland could be a shining example for the world in helping to get some of these people to safety temporarily.

The fundraiser was initially established by US artist Molly Crabapple, who also worked with Mr Rajab in Gaza.

“Brave, funny, and utterly devoted to journalism, Mohammed has helped so many foreign reporters tell the stories of Gaza," Ms Crabapple said.

“Now, Mohammed and his family's lives are at risk from the Israeli invasion of Gaza. 

“The Rajabs have four adorable little boys, the oldest of whom is 10.

“Conditions are unendurable for children. When Mohammed leaves me voice notes, I can hear the drones in the background.” 

They have so far raised more than $40,000 of the $70,000 they need to evacuate Mr Rajab and his family.

To donate to help Mr Rajab and his family, go to: Fundraiser for Mohammed Rajab by Molly Crabapple : Evacuate the Rajab Family from Gaza ( gofundme.com).