Doctor out of Gaza after four years

Looking exhausted, Palestinian Samir El-Nahhal struggles to talk about the suffering he witnessed in his homeland, Gaza, where he had been trapped for the past four years.

His eyes cloud over in thought as he stands at the airport's arrivals' lounge where he is greeted by relatives and friends who are celebrating the fact that he managed to get past the blockade in Gaza where war was raging until a few days ago.

"I can't explain to you the real situation there in a few minutes because the situation is very, very sad and difficult," Mr El-Nahhal, a doctor, said.

"What can I tell you? About the shelters? The wounded? People living without homes or schools?" he added in a soft, tired voice.

Mr El-Nahhal managed to leave the Gaza Strip and enter Egypt where he was granted a visa to Malta with the help of the Maltese Ambassador in Egypt. It had been four years since he managed to step out of Gaza.

His arrival follows that of his sister, Sanaa, who returned to Malta on Saturday following a brief humanitarian trip to Gaza where she went armed with 60 boxes of supplies donated by the Maltese to the victims of the war.

Mr El-Nahhal studied to become a doctor in Romania and, during his studies, he often came to visit his sister in Malta. Once he graduated he returned to Gaza to serve his people.

There he got married and has three children aged between one and five.

During his one-month stay in Malta, he is looking for an opportunity to improve his life and that of his family.

"I might look for a job here. I hope to find one and, maybe, bring my family over. But I'll take it all one step at a time. This is my first step," he said. His sister, Sanaa, also hopes that her brother will settle in Malta. It has become her silent mission to help her relatives who were victims of the war.

"If my brother comes to Malta I won't be alone. We'll be two of us working to help our people," she smiled.

Mrs El-Nahhal began her journey to Gaza on January 18 in an attempt to transport medicine, food and clothing, donated by the government and the Maltese, to her conflict-ridden homeland. Most of her family live in the Palestinian part of Rafah.

Last Tuesday she managed to get through the border but, due to complications, she was only able to take five boxes into Gaza with her. The rest remain in a garage in Egypt until her relatives manage to transport them. After a two-day ordeal trapped at the Rafah border she then managed to re-enter Egypt on Friday with the intervention of the Maltese Ambassador in Egypt.

"I really appreciate all the work my sister has done and I thank all the Maltese who helped her," her brother said.