In the early hours of a Tuesday morning, 28-year-old Ibrahim Elmobayed received a message from his mother, who is trapped in besieged Gaza.
Key points:
- Seventy-seven Australian citizens, permanent residents and their families are known to be in Gaza
- People seeking to leave the besieged region have been trapped, and border crossings kept closed
- A family member of one trapped Australian has expressed his frustration at the government's response to the crisis
In it Hanaa Elmobayed, 53, recited the Islamic declaration of faith known as the Shahada, then came another message.
"A missile has hit our place," she said.
"The house has been damaged."
Then nothing.
Communication between Hanaa Elmobayed in Gaza and her children back home in Melbourne has been patchy, as the occupied territory comes under relentless Israeli bombardment and power supplies dwindle.
Ibrahim Elmobayed and his five siblings have been living on edge for the last 18 days, gripped by fear and a sense of helplessness.
"My hands are shackled," he said.
"I can't do anything, I'm not a Superman, but surely my government in my country would be able to assist me in getting my mum out there."
Eventually, Hanaa Elmobayed made contact again; she is okay.
The missile had hit and destroyed the neighbouring building, and the blast badly damaged the house she'd been sheltering in – it's now unliveable.
"I myself was shaking," Ibrahim Elmobayed said.
"I was listening to her fearing that as she was actually calling another missile was going to be dropping on her house.
"This isn't the first strike that they had felt in the neighbourhood, and now it just feels like they could be next at any given moment.
"It seems really indiscriminate and that there is no way for us to know if my mum's going to wake up the next morning."
Frustration help has not come from Australian government
Hanaa Elmobayed is among 77 Australian citizens, permanent residents and their families known to be in Gaza, where water, food and fuel have reached critically low levels after Israel placed the area under total blockade following terror group Hamas's attack on October 7.
While some trucks carrying humanitarian aid have been able to enter the region in recent days, the United Nations World Food Programme has warned that the situation remains "catastrophic" with civilians forced to ration food and water.
"They have no water supply, they have no electricity, they're running their charging via solar power right now, they have no gas, no way of helping themselves," Mr Elmobayed said.
"They are having a hard time having showers and even keeping themselves clean.
"They're just fighting over wet wipes at this point in time just trying to clean themselves up.
"If this is what's happening to my mum, I can hardly imagine the other civilians that are out there that are handling much worse situations and much worse scenarios."
Since fighting escalated two weeks ago, more than 1,800 Australians have been repatriated from Israel on flights from Tel Aviv.
As the days drag on, Mr Elmobayed is becoming increasingly frustrated with the level of support offered by the Australian government to citizens in Gaza.
"We're really disappointed to hear that they are able to assist one side but not the other," he said.
"We feel like we almost have been living a lie, believing that our government was going to help us and no help has been made yet."
"We're at the mercy of this monstrous war, and we don't know what to do anymore."
Last week his mother spent days waiting by the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, clinging onto hope that it would open, and civilians would be allowed free passage out.
She was amongst numerous Australians who rushed to the southern border after receiving a message from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade urging them to get to the crossing quickly following reports it could open to foreigners – something which never eventuated.
"The situation is fluid and unpredictable but it if you assess it to be safe, we strongly encourage you to move quickly to the Rafah crossing area now," the DFAT email said.
"We do not know when there will be another opportunity for you to depart Gaza or how long the crossing may remain open for."
Mr Elmobayed criticised the government's decision to encourage citizens to risk travel to the border and said Australia should be doing "much more" to support those who are trapped.
"She was instructed by our government agencies and our government bodies for her to go out there and risk her life and for her to assess her own risk to ensure her safe exit out of there, when there was no safe exit," he said
"I don't understand why they're playing this chess game, when they haven't organised anything."
In a statement, DFAT said it was providing Australians in Gaza with "the best possible information and options for their safety".
"We understand the situation is extremely distressing for them and their loved ones," the statement said.
"Through the Foreign Minister's engagement and that of our officials in the region, Australia is doing all we can to support the work of the US, Egypt and others to make the Rafah border crossing open for humanitarian purposes, including the passage of civilians.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as "dire".
"DFAT continues to support Australians, permanent residents and immediate family members there," she said on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday.
"Australia is working with partners to secure sustained and unimpeded humanitarian access and safe passage of civilians from Gaza."
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2023-10-24 08:01:22Z
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