‘Don’t want to die at the age of 24…’, the condition of people stranded at Rafah crossing struggling between despair and hope
Tala says her younger brother Yazid is very scared and the situation is getting worse.
An attempt is being made to cross the border for the third time. But this time the expectations are higher than before. According to all the media reports, the border will definitely open this time.
A family is present at the Rafah crossing in southern Gaza towards the Egyptian border. They have only one desire – to leave the war behind and cross the border and enter Egypt.
The entire family has been called by the Jordanian Embassy. They have been told to reach Rafah crossing.
Tala Abu Nahaleh’s mother is a citizen of Jordan. People with foreign passports are being allowed to cross the Rafah crossing. Apart from this, injured and sick people are also being allowed to cross the border.
Tala’s 15-year-old brother Yazid is physically disabled and suffers from epileptic seizures. Yazid travels from one place to another with the help of a wheelchair. The medicines they need have run out in Gaza’s hospitals. Also, due to continuous bombing, his health is getting worse.
hope for a miracle
Everyone’s eyes are on the list which contains the names of those who are being allowed to cross the border.
“As the violence escalated, Yazid became fearful. His seizures became more dangerous, each time more severe than before,” says Tala.
There are six members in the family and all are financially dependent on Tala. Tala has studied in America and Beirut with the help of scholarship.
She is a confident girl who expresses her situation in simple words. Listening to him it seems that he is the perfect person to get his family out of this trouble.
Tala says, “We are just trying to survive. We don’t know if we will survive or not but we are going to try our best. We will do our best to survive because I don’t want to die at the age of 24. “
Rafah Crossing is a place where the word destiny has different meanings. These include escaping bombings, hunger and water shortage.
22 lakh people and one small wish
Very few of the people who gathered at the Egyptian border on Wednesday were able to cross the border.
It also means that you will leave behind those people who do not have a foreign passport.
And also those who luckily are not injured or sick yet. You are also leaving behind those who are unable to leave their homes and reach the border due to the bombing.
22 lakh people live in Gaza. Among them, only a handful are lucky who will be able to stay away from the war.
Mona does not want to reveal her surname. He is married to an Australian citizen so now he also has a foreign passport.
Mona has somehow reached the border alone. Only thoughts of his family trapped in Gaza were coming to his mind.
Tala Abu Nahaleh
Mona told the BBC, “I am not happy at all. I am leaving a part of me behind. My brother and sister… my entire family is here. God willing, they will all be safe. The situation here is very bad. … a lot of.”
Some papers are pasted on the wall on the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing. Some men are looking at them. His fingers are passing over each name. These are those lucky people who have got permission to cross the border.
Many families are sitting on plastic chairs in the waiting hall. A small place where a thousand desires are growing.
A total of 400 foreign nationals and sick and injured people were allowed to leave Gaza and enter Egypt on Wednesday.
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By evening it was becoming clear that Tala Abu Nahaleh’s family would not be among these people. The family once again returned to their apartment.
Dark and gloomy apartment with no electricity for days.
Tala sent us a video message in which he said that he was unable to understand anything now. She was looking tired.
In his message he said, “We have reached home. There is no electricity, no food, no clean water. My brother has only one day’s medicines left. And we are still here. It is already night.” I don’t know whether we will get a chance to cross the border tomorrow or not. But I am holding on to hope.”
This post originally appeared on www.bbc.com