Desperate plea of woman with family ‘close to death’ in Rafah

Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts has met with a constituent who has multiple family members trapped in Gaza, to urge the UK government to establish a visa scheme for displaced Palestinians.

Liz Saville Roberts, Plaid Cymru MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, has urged Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, to reconsider establishing a visa scheme to reunite displaced Palestinians with family members in the UK.

Since the start of the Israeli bombardment, Emily Fares from Llwyngwril has witnessed multiple family members being displaced.

Home destroyed

Emily’s family has lost their home in Khan Yunis and they have been forced onto the streets with no access to food, water, or medicine. The youngest family member is just 7 months old and the oldest is 71.

The family have since split-up with half of them including women and children, on the streets of Rafah seeking shelter from the bombing whilst around 16 are thought to be confined to a single room on a farm with no access to water, food, or communication.

Fears are mounting for their safety ahead of a planned Israeli incursion on Rafah. Emily has set up a fundraising appeal as a last-ditch effort to try and rescue her family.

“Desperate”

Commenting ahead of a Commons vote on a ceasefire, Liz Saville Roberts MP said: “My constituent Emily Fares from Llwyngwril has multiple family members trapped in Gaza. The youngest of whom is just seven months old.

“Their family home in Khan Yunis has been destroyed. Contact with them is now virtually impossible.’

‘They’ve been forced onto the streets in a desperate attempt to find shelter from sustained bombing by Israeli forces. There is no clean water, food, or access to medicine. The situation on the ground is dire. They are under siege in a warzone.

“For nearly six months, Wales and the rest of the world has witnessed unimaginable horror and suffering in Gaza. Entire families killed, neighbourhoods turned to rubble, the total collapse of hospitals, power plants and water facilities.

“Emily has now resorted to crowdfunding to raise funds to secure her family’s safety.”

Family reunification scheme

“I call on the UK government to work with international partners and reconsider establishing a family reunification visa scheme for Palestinians with family members in the UK.

“The international community must use all the tools at their disposal to protect civilians from death and destruction.  Any scheme must include the right to return to Gaza.

“The brutal bombardment which has killed over 29,000 Palestinians, nearly two thirds of them women and children, and displaced countless others, must come to an immediate end. It’s high time the UK government heeded growing calls and back an immediate ceasefire.”