FOR THE LAST week and a half, Akram and Hanan Samour have gone about their daily lives while waiting to hear news from Saja, their 26-year-old daughter who is trapped in North Gaza.
Akram and his wife Hanan live in Dublin with their five sons, after relocating here in 2021. Saja could not come with them, as she was over eighteen at the time, and different rules applied to her visa.
Saja and her extended family members are all in a crowded house together, that is owned by a relative. They have found shelter in this building after the threat of Israeli airstrikes forced them to evacuate three other areas in North Gaza. Her uncle’s house, which he spent years building, was destroyed by bombing.
For a short time each day, Saja is able to use a small generator to charge her phone.
As soon as it turns on, she lets her family know that she is still alive.
On Wednesday of last week, Akram, Hanan and their children (including a daughter living in Qatar and another in the UK) waited tensely to hear from Saja.
The family is from the north-western Al Kamara neighbourhood, where eight 12-storey apartment buildings have been levelled by Israeli air strikes. Once home to thousands of families, it has now been reduced to piles of rubble.
“All the people that were there have left, it is too dangerous”, Akram told The Journal.
Ismail, Saja’s brother, was the first to text into their group chat on Wednesday morning: “Good morning, love”.
“And good morning, my love,” his sister replied at 9.45 am.
By 1pm, the family had not yet heard anything from Saja that day.
“May God make it better for her,” their mother wrote in at lunchtime. She didn’t need to say who she was referring to, everyone knew she was talking about Saja.
“Oh, Lord”, her son Mohammad replied.
Close to 5pm, Saja finally sent a voice message.“We are fine,” she said.
“Praise be to God, may God protect you,” her sister replied instantly.
Sometimes this is the most contact Akram will have with Saja in a day.
“Some days, Saja just sends one question mark when her phone is running out of charge, to let us know that she is still alive,” Akram explained.
Akram, Hanan, and their children Ibrahim (8), Ismail (21), Razan (11), Abdelrahman (15) and Mohammed (20) try to carry on with life as normal in their home in Ballinteer, Dublin 16.
For Akram and his wife Hanan, it can be hard to fully comprehend the situation Saja is in.
“One day Saja was sick. My wife said to her, ‘Why don’t you run out to the market to get some supplies?’.”
“Saja said, ‘The market has been bombed mum’. We thought, oh, of course, the market has been bombed,” he said.
Yesterday, Akram awoke to the news that the Baptist hospital had been bombed in central Gaza. Hundreds had died, many of them children. He said that his grief for the plight of his community was surpassed only by his fear for the well-being of his daughter.
Saja was able to contact her family shortly after midday.
“The situation is ok. [It’s] even worse. They attacked a hospital yesterday,” she texted.
“May God grant you relief and protect you from hardship,” her sister replied. “God is enough,” their other sister added.
Saja sent them a voice message saying: ‘We are fine, thank God. Oh God, I recorded my voice for you to hear.”
At the end of the message, she laughs and adds, “if you miss me”.
The family’s united sense of faith is helping them to cope.When Akram’s wife listened to him play Saja’s message, she was crying, and praying for God to protect her daughter.
When Akram has to spend hours waiting for news from Saja, he plays the message to hear her voice, and her laugh.
“Since 2021 we have been here in Ireland, and she has been in Gaza. Now she is trapped,” Akram said.
Before the latest resurgence of violence in the region, Saja had been living with Akram’s brother’s family in North Gaza, and working remotely as the Commercial Director of the Bakka Learning Company, which is based in Saudi Arabia.
Since Israel cut Palestinian civilians off from water, food and electricity, as well as repeatedly bombing the Gaza strip, Saja’s already challenging world has been turned upside down.
Describing the situation Saja is in, her father said:”There is no safety, no electricity, no internet, no food, no fuel – my family are trying to survive on their little saved resources. They barely leave the house, it is not safe to. This week Saja tried to go to a bakery that opened for a while, it was so crowded there she told me, she just had to leave. I didn’t find out if she managed to get any bread.”
“I hear from her once or twice a day – the connection is not good, I cannot get the full information on how she is doing.
“I last spoke to her yesterday. Saja told me that their neighbours have a well. Every three days, they send my family some water. I asked her about food, she said they eat the little they have left. She told me they have a plan to try and leave. I don’t have any more details. I am waiting,” Akram added.
His father, Akram, says his daughter has nowhere safe to go. "Unfortunately, I am so worried about my daughter," he told the crowd. These are some of the Palestinians who spoke at the protest this evening.
— Eimer McAuley (@eimer_mcauley) October 11, 2023
The war has claimed claimed 100s of Palestinian and Israeli lives. pic.twitter.com/sIhDEOsZDX
Akram’s family fled from Gaza to Belfast in 2003, during the second Intifada. This was a period of Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.
Akram, his wife and their children returned to Gaza in 2010, a few years after the withdrawal of Israeli forces. His first visa application to come back to Ireland was rejected in 2019 but approved on appeal in 2020.
The 56-year-old used to work as a University Professor in the area of strategic management. He is currently seeking out a similar role in Dublin. His family relocated to Ireland two years ago following “a period of hardship”.
“We came back here after experiencing difficult times. As we spent seven years in Belfast before, Ireland felt like a second home to us. We also wanted to help our son Mohammed, who was born in Belfast, to pursue academia here,” Akram said.
Before October 7th, and the latest outbreak of violence in the region, life was already very difficult for Palestinians in Gaza, due to the ongoing blockade of the strip’s border by Israeli authorities.
“Our ability to access electricity was already reduced. The lack of electricity impacted our access to safe drinking water, as hygiene and sanitation services were compromised. The restriction on the import of goods meant medical supplies were low, and the health system was at the brink of collapse.
“After living through all of this, the family has found contentment and stability here in Dublin. For this we are grateful. But now, our concerns for Saja’s well-being are paramount,” Akram said.
“I think the worst feeling anyone can imagine is happening to us right now. When you cannot protect your child from death,” he added.
The former university professor is very proud of his daughter’s achievements.
“She is the second in line of my children. Born 12/04/1997. I still remember that when she was in nursery, I asked her teacher, ‘How was she doing?’ The teacher told me Saja was so motivated in trying to write, that when she could not use the pencil properly, she started to cry. She is the best of us,” Akram told The Journal.
*Additional reporting from Nicky Ryan.
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