Aussie family trapped in Gaza’s plea for help

An Australian family are trapped in the Gaza Strip with no option of escape and say DFAT have yet to provide them with any practical help.

An Australian family is stuck in the Gaza Strip unable to escape after travelling there for a holiday, with bombs falling less than 100m from where they are sheltering.

The Palestinian-Australian man, his wife and their two young children, aged seven and 10, travelled to Gaza from their home in Adelaide two weeks ago to visit family. It was the first time they had been back in 12 years.

There are 19 Australians trapped in Gaza, desperately trying to cross the border.

After Hamas’s brutal attack on an Israeli music festival on Saturday, the family has become stuck in the blockaded territory with all borders to ­Israel and Egypt closed off.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government was in conversations with the Egypt government about the potential to get them out through the southern border.

“(The border) is closed of course, at the moment formally, but we are having discussions to try to ensure that Australians can be gotten to safety,” he said on ABC News on Friday morning.

“We want all Australians to be safe in the region and be able to leave, whether they’re in Israel or Gaza.”

An Aussie man, his wife and two kids have become trapped in Gaza after going there for a holiday.

The family, who asked not to be identified for fears over their safety, said they were living in daily terror of being hit by a bomb as they tried to find a way back to Australia. The father of two spoke to The Daily Telegraph from Gaza as rockets fell nearby.

The family had fled his in-law’s house where they had been staying on Monday night just before the house next door was razed to the ground by a bomb

He said he was terrified his family was going to die there.

“A few hours after we arrived, the neighbourhood received a warning that a soccer field would be shelled so everyone evacuated,” he said.

“The IDF bombarded not just the soccer field but the building next door to my in-laws — we just survived.”

The family have since fled to the father’s parents’ house in the southern part of the city, where bombs have been falling less than 100m away.

The bombed-out building in Gaza City next door to the man’s in-laws house.

The interior of the house in Gaza City where the family is currently sheltering despite shelling in the neighbourhood.

The couple’s two young children are terrified, he said, with his seven-year-old daughter made physically sick from the carnage.

“My daughter especially gets panic attacks and becomes physically sick — she’s been throwing up constantly,” he said.

“My 10-year-old son is trying to be brave … but he has ADHD and we are running out of medication.”

On Sunday, after the bombing started, the family attempted to cross the Rafah Border Crossing into Egypt but were turned back and told not to try again.

The family have asked not to be identified as they have fears for their safety.

Text messages sent to DFAT requesting urgent help.

They are currently waiting for more assistance.

After calling the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on their emergency hotline, the family said they were given no practical advice or hope of help from Australian authorities.

Eventually DFAT got back in contact on Tuesday and told the family they could try to cross the Egyptian border but it would be up to the family’s own risk assessment.

Adelaide man’s parents house in Gaza City after shelling in the neighbourhood.

Damage to the window from nearby shelling.

The Rafah crossing has been hit by multiple Israeli air strikes in the last two days, leaving the family with no option of escape.

As the family wait for word, the mother became very sick on Wednesday, but had no access to any doctors.

“She is very stressed — she vomits and has diarrhoea and an elevated temperature too,” her husband said.

“We are trying home remedies with what we have available. We can’t see a doctor and we can’t leave home.”

A DFAT spokesman said the department was providing assistance to an Australian family in Gaza but “owing to our privacy obligations we cannot provide further comment”.

Originally published as Aussie family trapped in Gaza’s plea for help