When Khadija Nijim, her husband Samed and their five children arrived at the border crossing in Rafah, it was eight o’clock on Thursday morning. Over 800 other people were already there, hoping to escape Gaza that day.
By midnight, the controllers still hadn’t let Samed through. The bus to Cairo was about to depart, and Khadija and the children needed to board.
– We decided that I would take the children and go to Cairo, and hopefully my husband would follow. But they say he was sent to Gaza again. We don’t know why, she says.
UD: Samed was not on the list
Khadija says that the whole family was registered on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ list of Swedes who want to leave Gaza at the same time, but still Samed is not on the list of Swedes who are allowed to cross the border.
Their families have been in contact with the Foreign Ministry and the Swedish embassy in Cairo, in the hope of being able to help him home to Svenljunga.
– It is tough to be alone with five children. They miss their father. They have been crying now for several days. They want their father, says Khadija.
Not going home
The children have fallen ill. They cough, have eye inflammation and vomit. The eldest daughter is twelve, and the youngest child is only two. Khadija does not feel that she can cope with traveling with five sick children without Samed.
– The children just asked if I have spoken to him. I lied to them and said that he is fine, and that he is saying hello. But I haven’t had contact with him now for two days. And I was told now that they have started bombing in Rafah, where he is.
Khadija and the children now live with a friend in Cairo. But she does not intend to leave the country without her husband, despite the fact that those who have left Gaza are only given a limited visa to Egypt where they can stay for 72 hours.
– We want him home. If he stays there he will be killed. He will not survive.
SVT Nyheter has been in contact with the Swedish Foreign Ministry, who wrote in an email that they do not comment on individual cases, citing consular secrecy.