Inverness doctor to be reunited with family members after crowdfunding appeal enabled them to leave Gaza

An Inverness doctor is preparing for what will be an emotional reunion with family members after they were allowed to leave Gaza.

Dr Salim Ghayyda, a consultant paediatrician at Raigmore Hospital, is travelling to Egypt this weekend to be reunited with his elderly parents, a sister and nephew.

The four were able to cross the border safely thanks to generous donations from members of the public who supported an ongoing crowdfunding appeal.

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But 28 immediate family members remain in Gaza where they are at risk of dying from Israeli bombardment, dehydration, starvation or widespread disease amid the ongoing Israel Hamas war.

They include his 18-month niece who is northern Gaza and having to eat animal feed and foraged weeds due to a lack of food.

While Dr Ghayyda is relieved that his mother Dalal (75), father Nabil (85), his sister Hadeel and nephew Waleed are now in a safe place, he has vowed not to give up on his remaining family members including five brothers and one sister.

“It is a bitter-sweet feeling,” he said.

The British Palestinian, who has served the NHS for 20 years, said getting his four family members out of Gaza was a difficult and uncertain process and involved travelling in person along with his son to Egypt to pay an official travel company $20,000.

“It has to be the right amount of cash in dollars - $5000 for an adult and $2500 for a child,” he said

“I used the money which was generously given by the Scottish and British people.

“Without this money, I would not have been able to do this.”

They then faced an anxious three-week wait for their names to appear on an approved list of people allowed to cross the border at Rafah.

“It is a very painful, lengthy and difficult road,” Dr Ghayyda said.

“There was a lot of apprehension.

“The names appear on the list at night and you have to go to the crossing at 7am the next day.

“If you are not there or are ill, or for some reason you cannot make it, you have lost the opportunity.

“I followed their journey stage by stage, hour by hour, and until they contacted me from Egypt, I didn’t believe it was going to happen.

“My heart was fluttering”

For months, they had been forced to live as refugees in appalling circumstances.

“They were in quite bad shape especially my dad and he was taken to a doctor straight away as he was suffering from breathlessness, his blood sugar levels were going down all the time and he was having dizzy spells,” Dr Ghayyda said.

“He was admitted to hospital overnight but luckily he is now better.”

They are currently staying in a rented flat and are now able to sleep on a mattress rather than the floor.

“My dad said for the first time in six months, he slept,” Dr Ghayyda said.

He said deciding which family members would be the first to make the crossing had been heartbreaking and he remains desperately worried for those who remain.

His brother, a radiographer, and his young daughter remain trapped in the north of the Gaza strip as she was too ill to travel when others evacuated from the area.

“They can barely find any food and are foraging for edible weeds to eat,” he said.

“He has had to grind animal feed to make bread.

“When I look at my niece as a paediatrician, she is quite malnourished.

“She tries to smile but there is almost an anguish in her eyes.

“To find yourself in this situation where you cannot feed your own daughter - it just breaks me, thinking about it.”

The deaths of seven aid workers, including three Britons, following this week’s Israeli air strike on a food aid convoy has prompted renewed fears that the humanitarian situation in Gaza could deteriorate further.

“The families must be devastated by their deaths and killing by the Israelis,” Dr Ghayyda said.

“I am very sorry and heartbroken for the families.”

He said hundreds of thousands of British people had been calling for a ceasefire in Gaza where more than 32,000 people have been killed since Israel began its offensive after the October 7 attack by Hamas gunmen who killed 1300 people and took about 250 others hostage.

“People have been saying, ‘Stop Israel killing innocent men, women and children’ but unfortunately we have not been listened to,” he said.

“As a consequence, our own British citizens have been killed.”

He reiterated calls for an immediate ceasefire and said the UK should stop supplying arms to Israel.

He and other British Palestinian families have also been lobbying politicians, including Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron, to give more help in the same way refugees from countries such as Ukraine have been helped.

But he said so far there has been no action.

Dr Ghayyda said he was grateful to the public for supporting his appeal which can be found under his name at gofundme.com.

“I am not going to give up,” he vowed.

“This is the only thing which is in my power to influence.

“I cannot influence politicians. I cannot influence Israel to stop.

“It may sound self-centred but the only thing I can do is to raise money to get my family out temporarily until it is safe to go back.”

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