BiH citizens and their relatives who crossed the Rafah border crossing and are currently in Cairo will arrive in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Saturday or Sunday, confirmed for N1 Sabit Subašić, ambassador of BiH in Cairo. The exact date is still unknown.
“It was a long and difficult journey from the Rafah border crossing to Cairo… there is a chaotic atmosphere and there is a big space, a lot of people are trying to get out. We managed to find our people and they are in Cairo. They are waiting for transport to Bosnia and Herzegovina. We did not manage to evacuate six people because they simply did not show up that day, but we are working intensively and I believe we will finish it today. The problem is that the telephone lines do not work at all,” said Subašić.
We remind you that 42 BiH citizens received approval to cross the Rafah border crossing, and 36 of them were evacuated yesterday. 12 citizens did not receive approval and they are still in the Gaza Strip.
“We are continuing the process. That is our task, we will work on it. Some do not get approval due to lack of documentation or who knows what reasons. We do not know what the rejection criteria are. Israel does not give reasons, we simply get a list of people in a special form. I want to point out that we have wonderful cooperation with our ambassador in Tel Aviv, he is trying to help. I also want to highlight the efforts of Ambassador Semir Halilović, who himself from Qatar initiated the initiative for the Government of Qatar to help us,” Ambassador Subašić explained.
Munira Abu Hagag along with her husband, daughter and son are near the Rafah border crossing. She is from Tešnj, and has been living in the Gaza Strip for years. Although she and her children are citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, they did not receive permission to move, she claims for N1.
“We live in fear every day, every day is worse and worse. Life becomes like hell, we have no water, no electricity, and little food. It can’t even be bought, and even the little there is is too expensive. We fear for all ours. We submitted a request to the BiH embassy in Egypt, they sent the request to Israel and say they rejected our names. We are ordinary civilians. We have nothing to do with the military and politics. We are asking our Ministry of Foreign Affairs to help us. We are asking everyone who can help,” she told N1.
During the night, 36 persons from Bosnia and Herzegovina were successfully evacuated from the Gaza Strip, while six persons from the evacuation list did not appear at the Rafah crossing.
“Our embassy asked us to send the request again, we sent it again. We were told by the BiH embassy to wait a few days while they take these people out. They took out our Bosnians, and with them some Arab families who don’t have citizenship, we didn’t leave, but we have citizenship. I don’t know why… There is no reason why they won’t give us permission to go out. We are asking for help,” concluded Munira Abu Hagag.
