KILLED: Swedish Khadija (8) died while her family’s house in Gaza was attacked while they were sleeping. Photo: Private
The Swedish family of five had their home in Gaza destroyed. In the ruins, the eight-year-old girl was found murdered.
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- A Swedish family of five had their home destroyed and their daughter Kahdija (8) killed in a rocket attack in the Khan Younis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.
- The rest of the family, all Swedish citizens, are in hospital with injuries after the attack.
- The family tried to flee the country six days earlier, but were stopped at the border with Egypt.
- Relatives in Sweden criticize the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a lack of help.
- The UN estimates that 21,822 people have been killed and 7,000 missing in the Gaza Strip since the war began on October 7; at least 8,200 must be children.
Sea view
Now the family in Sweden is fighting for the rest of the family to be allowed to return home.
Four days before Christmas Eve, the eight-year-old girl was found in the ruins of the house where she and her family lived.
The home was in the largest city on the Gaza Strip, Khan Younis, where in recent days there has been intense bombing and fierce fighting.
The family, who are all Swedish citizens born and raised in Stockholm, were sleeping when the house was allegedly hit by two rockets.
The rest of the family were rushed to hospital after neighbors flocked to the scene and helped them out of the collapsed buildings.
– At the hospital they were told that Khadija had died, Khadija’s aunt in Stockholm, Hoyem Klai (28), tells VG.
The Express mentioned the matter first.
SIBLINGS: Siblings Jawad (10), Khadija (8), Abdallah (6) and Safia (4) gathered here. Photo: Private
Tried to escape
On New Year’s Eve morning, Palestinian health authorities stated that at least 21,822 people have been killed and 7,000 are missing in the Gaza Strip since the war broke out on 7 October. At least 8,200 of those killed will be children.
The figures have not been confirmed by independent sources, but the UN considers the figures to be reliable.
IN MOURNING: Hoyem Klai (28) is the aunt of deceased Kadija (8), who was killed in an airstrike in Gaza four days before Christmas Eve. Photo: Private
During the penultimate day of the year, at least 150 people are said to have been killed in new attacks.
According to Khadija’s Swedish aunt, the family of five must have tried to flee the country just six days earlier. The grandfather had traveled from Sweden to receive them in Egypt, but he was stopped by the military.
– It is the local authorities who decide who will be allowed to evacuate. Only the names on the list are allowed to leave. But some become desperate, like my sister and the family, and go to the border crossing and hope, says the aunt to VG.
But the family was stopped at the border crossing to Egypt, where they were allegedly told that they were not allowed to leave the Gaza Strip.
BETWEEN THE BROTHERS: Khadija (8) with her brothers Elias (1) and Jawad (10). Photo: Private
– Woke up by my mother screaming
The aunt in Sweden herself received the message that her niece had been killed only hours after the attack on 20 December.
– My brother-in-law’s brother called, and he never usually calls us. I woke up to my mother screaming, says Hoyem Klai.
Khadija’s mother, Rina Klai (31), suffered two fractures in her back and cannot move. All four children were also injured in the attack, but have now been discharged from hospital.
Pictures VG has received from the family show extensive destruction:
Christmas has turned into grief for the family in Sweden. They are now desperate to get the couple and the four children home.
– I just hope they are alive on the day they are allowed to go home, says the aunt.
The family is still in Khan Younis, where Israeli forces have moved deeper and deeper in recent days. Many are forced to flee again, and in recent days around 100,000 people have poured into the border town of Rafah further south, according to estimates given by the UN.
– Exhausting
In the ground operation in Khan Younis, Israel claims it has stormed a Hamas headquarters. Israel suspects that Hamas leader Yehya al-Sinwar is now hiding in tunnels under the city.
Throughout Christmas, the family in Sweden has received one daily phone call from the family in Gaza, but the internet is poor and it is difficult to get in touch.
– It is very intense. Every minute is risky. It is exhausting to always watch the news, check all the pictures and videos and try to see if we know the people in the pictures, see who goes in and out of the hospitals, says Hoyem Klai.
In the picture gallery below, you can see the destruction in various cities on the Gaza Strip in recent days:
DECEMBER 30: A Palestinian man carries an injured child who has been pulled from the rubble after an Israeli attack in Zawaida in the Gaza Strip. Photo: AFP
She criticizes the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs for what she believes to be inaccessibility. She says that they have tried several times to call and ask them for help.
– But we hear nothing. There is no help to be had. They have told us that they cannot do anything, she claims.
Late on New Year’s Eve, Hoyem Klai himself participated in a large demonstration in Stockholm demanding a ceasefire in Gaza.
– People were clear about their criticism of Sweden’s government. I was there with my family, cousins and friends, says Klain.
The demonstration went from Sergel’s square through the city from 11pm and was not finished until 1am on the night of 1 January, she says. For the 28-year-old, it became a way to process the grief:
– After the tragedy that befell my sister and her family, I hardly went out, but it felt good to participate.
DEMONSTRATED NEW YEAR’S EVE: The turnout was massive in Stockholm on the evening of New Year’s Eve when the Swedes took to the streets and demanded a cease-fire in Gaza. Photo: Private
Swedish Foreign Ministry: – Very complicated
Sweden’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs VG New Year’s Eve that they cannot comment on individual deaths in Gaza.
– Out of consideration for those involved, cases related to deaths abroad are handled very carefully and the work follows a special routine. In the current situation, this is very complicated, they say.
The Swedish Foreign Ministry estimates that around a hundred Swedish citizens are still left in Gaza, and that they assume that several of them will be able to leave the area. They nevertheless point out that it is the local authorities who decide who is allowed to travel abroad and that they have very limited opportunities to influence this.
30 Norwegians left
On Thursday last week, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Norway stated that there are now around 30 Norwegians and people with close connections left in Gaza.
– We have not been able to contact some of them recently, partly because the internet in Gaza has been down. This worries us, wrote press officer Guri Solberg in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in an e-mail to NTB.
Published:
Published: 01.01.24 at 16:11
2024-01-01 15:11:25
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