Shaker Albuhaisi recalls the “shocked” faces of fellow students as they passed Rafah while being evacuated from Gaza to study in Ireland.
“We were able to see through the windows how much destruction is there. I’ve been to Rafah multiple times before the war, and I couldn’t even recognise the place, I couldn’t recognise where we were,” he said.
He was one of about 15 Gazan students on the bus, some of whom were Rafah residents before being displaced.
“They could not even recognise their own city,” he said.
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It was one of several sites, which he described as “red zones” or “forbidden areas”, passed by the group as they made their way to the border, where an evacuation convoy awaited them.
“There was no streets, nothing, just IDF tanks, there was no civilian infrastructure,” he said, of Rafah.
Speaking to The Irish Times in August, the 22-year-old, who received a scholarship to study at University College Dublin (UCD), said he had felt “forgotten” after hearing that more than 50 students had been brought to Ireland.
Although he had approval to leave and much of the required paperwork, he said he was not notified of the evacuation at the time and he felt “left behind”.
However, days later, he was contacted by both UCD and Department of Foreign Affairs officials, leading to his evacuation last month, he said, describing the intervention as “surreal”.
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Now studying a year-long masters in biological and biomolecular science at UCD, the student recalled how he “cried” on seeing the Irish flag for the first time. The flag, alongside signs which read “Ireland”, indicated the bus he should board after crossing the Gaza border.
“I cried when I saw the staff wearing bright orange vests with ‘Ireland’ written on them,” he said.
Those supporting the evacuation to Ireland were “the first people to smile at me in what felt like forever”, he said, adding that he felt like a “human again”.
Leaving his family, including both of his parents and his siblings, with whom he has been in daily contact since, was “devastating”, he said, noting that he and his family had been living through “horrors” until that point.
“I know the way they are living because I’ve been living that way for two years. I know how hard it is,” he said.
The possibility that he might never see them again, or return to Gaza, was “crushing”, he said.
“There’s no safe place in there. You sleep every day having the idea that you might not be alive the next morning. When you wake up, you just thank God that you’re still alive,” he said.
He recalled neighbours’ buildings just metres away being bombed on occasion, and described regularly seeing malnourished people “falling” in the street.
He points out that his family in Gaza is neither rich nor poor, and were unable to secure anything other than lentils for months, at a significant financial cost, resulting in debt.
“I lived on one meal of lentils [daily] for around two months,” he said, adding: “You don’t have any other option.”
He lost a significant amount of weight in that time, he said.
Speaking from his student accommodation in Dublin, he says while he hopes for peace, he does not believe a peace plan brought forward by US president Donald Trump will be successful.
“I’m not optimistic because of past experiences,” he said.
He describes the kindness of Irish people since his arrival as “overwhelming”, saying his evacuation here has offered him a “chance to live”.
“For the first time in a long time, I feel safe,” he said.
