'It's not safe for my father to remain in Gaza'

A Belfast-born man who battled to have his children evacuated from Gaza and brought to Ireland is now trying to help his father to safety.

Khalid El-Astal's wife, mother and brother were killed in a bomb attack on their home in 2023.

The 32-year-old, who is an Irish citizen, managed to get his two small children to Dublin where they have since settled, but two years later his father is still in Gaza.

The Republic of Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs, which helped relocate his children, have been supporting him, but said said evacuations are "complex operations and success is dependent on several factors, including permissions for the relevant authorities".

Mr El-Astal said his 62-year-old father is living in a tent with limited food, water and sanitation.

"It's just a disaster. It's not safe," he said. "Every single day for the last two years, we're losing someone - a cousin or a friend or someone who is very close to us. It's really bad. I can't describe it."

Mr El-Astal was born in Belfast and lived in the city with his parents and three brothers until he was eight.

His father Ali, from Gaza, had been studying as an international student for his masters and PhD at Queen's University throughout the 1990s, before returning to the Middle East with his family.

He has remained there during the war, along with Mr El-Astal's two surviving brothers. Like him, his brothers are Irish citizens, but have not wanted to leave their father behind.

Mr El-Astal told BBC News NI his father had a visa to travel to Ireland.

However, he said his Palestinian passport was damaged in the bombing of his home and that he was unable to have a new one issued, which was hampering his ability to leave Gaza.

"We tried everything, we spoke to everyone. I don't know what's the problem. I don't know what to do to get them here," he said.

"They've been suffering for two years. My dad lost his wife and lost his son. My wife as well was like his daughter.

"They're living in a tent for the last two years. I don't know what we can do to get them here. I've tried everything."

Mr El-Astal said his father, a university professor, had lost a lot of weight and "looks like he's aged about 20 years".

He said at one stage his father and his brothers had to share their shelter with seven other people.

They have been getting their water, he said, from plastic bags, adding that communication with his father and brothers could be patchy as they don't have anywhere to charge their basic mobile phones.

A spokesperson for Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs told BBC News NI that it didn't comment on individual cases.

They said evacuations from Gaza were "complex operations and success is dependent on several factors, including permissions for the relevant authorities".

Much of this, they said, rests outside the control of the Government of Ireland.

The spokesperson added: "Travel documents for people in Gaza are an issue for the Palestinian Authorities, which can be contacted in Ireland via the Embassy of Palestine in Dublin."

Mr El-Astal had been working away from home in Saudi Arabia as a graphic designer to support his wife and children when war broke out on 7 October 2023.

He and his wife Ashwak Jendia had been making plans to relocate to Ireland.

After she died, Mr El-Astal's brother-in-law made the journey with the children to a border crossing at Rafah. From Egypt, they travelled to Dublin where they were reunited with their father.

Now, six-year-old Ali and three-year-old Sara are settled.

"The kids are happy. They're in schools. They have so many friends," Mr El-Astal said.

"We have so many people looking after us, helping us, supporting us.

"They give us love. Like unconditional, unlimited love. They're very good people. They're there for the kids - they're like uncles, they're like cousins. They have friends everywhere. Even the teachers in their schools - they're very friendly, very nice.

"So I'd say, yeah, I'm living a very good life."

However, he still wished, he said, that his wife Ashwak were here.

"It's really very, very sad and painful that she's not here. I remember the day when I first arrived to Dublin. I was dreaming of the moment that we would be here together - and it was only me, and then the kids arrived," he said.

"You know but at least the kids, they look like her, they remind me of her all the time. I try to do my best to raise them and to be there for them all the time."

Fred Rooney, a US lawyer who helped connect Mr El-Astal with the Irish authorities in his initial bid to evacuate the children out of Gaza, joined him on a visit to his hometown Belfast.

He said it was "amazing" to see the 32-year-old adopt the role of both parents.

"It's a very bittersweet story because the kids are being raised without a mother," he said.

"He's raising them without his wife. And now he's struggling to get his father and two Irish brothers out of Gaza, and it seems like every time he takes a step forward, there's two steps back."