Scottish NHS doctor raises £100k to rescue family from war-torn Palestine

A Scottish Palestinian NHS doctor has successfully fundraised over £100,000 to help his family escape the conflict in Gaza, yet many remain trapped due to Israeli control at the border.

Dr Salim Ghayyda, 52, said the partial success of evacuating his elderly parents, Nabil, 82, and Dalal, 72, along with other relatives including his five-year-old nephew, Nabil, and two-year-old niece, Lujain, before the crossing was shut.

"There is a strong sense of relief that they are safe but it's bittersweet that our other family members are still caged in Gaza," he expressed.

Working as a paediatrician at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, Dr Ghayyda revealed that 24 of his family members are still stranded in Gaza, having been residents of Rafah in the south when they were ordered to leave by Israel due to an impending military operation.

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The remaining family, which includes a one year old boy, have found temporary shelter in a three-bedroom apartment somewhere in central Gaza, although their exact whereabouts are uncertain to Dr Ghayyda.

"It's a waiting game now. None of us really know what is going to happen," he stated.

Describing the dire situation, Dr Ghayyda recounted the "appalling" conditions his family faces in Gaza, likening it to "like a horror movie", with frequent relocations, lack of running water, and scarce food supplies.

He shared: "At the start of the war, (my parents) didn't want to move and then, under pressure - because it became so dangerous, they could die - they moved to the middle of Gaza from Gaza City, and they stayed there."

They relocated several more times, to Khan Younis, Rafah, and back northwards, "to try to get out of harm's way", with Dr Ghayyda's father suffering several seizures during these moves.

"My niece, she's only 18 months and she's still in the north of Gaza with my brother and her mum because when they left, the little one was unwell, and they couldn't leave, so they stayed behind," Dr Ghayyda revealed.

"By the time she was better, it was too dangerous for them to go to the south so they are still living there and it's really, really appalling."

"It's terrible, what they're going through. They had to grind animal food to eat and I've heard horror stories from my brother. At one stage they had nothing to eat at all."

Particularly in the early days of Israel's assault on Gaza, the strip would experience frequent blackouts and Dr Ghayyda would lose contact with his family members, which he described as "heart shattering".

"These were emotionally the most difficult periods because I didn't hear about them for a week or two and I wondered, are they alive or not," he expressed.

Dr Ghayyda, who was born in Gaza and has lived in the UK for over 20 years, set up the GoFundMe for his family in January because he "couldn't really wait for them to just be killed or die," he confessed.

He shared that the eight relatives who escaped Gaza are now feeling "much safer" in Cairo, Egypt, with "the little ones, they couldn't stop eating because suddenly there was food".

"It's still not their home but, at least, they are safe and they are not going to die of starvation or being killed," he expressed.

Describing the ordeal as "horrible" and "emotionally unbelievable", he recounted the harrowing choice he faced about which family members could leave the Gaza Strip and which would remain behind.

"I'm not god, I'm not a superpower, I'm only a human, I'm only a son, I'm only a brother, and I was made to make this decision about who lives and who doesn't live, and it's awful," he lamented.