A DOCTOR living in Inverness is fundraising to help his family escape war in Gaza.
Dr Salim Ghayyda, a paediatrician who has lived and worked in Inverness for 11 years, is raising funds for more than 20 members of his family.
He has said he is trying to assist his parents, brother and sisters to flee the area of Rafah after his nephew Ashraf, 14, was killed in Gaza by an airstrike.
The doctor told STV News that his family are all crammed into a flat in Rafah after fleeing their home.
He has currently raised around £20,000 but shared he “is in the most difficult situation anyone can find themselves in”.
READ MORE: ‘A war crime’: Plight of displaced children in Rafah raised
Dr Ghayyda, who works at Raigmore Hospital, said: “I am saying to my parents, ‘do you want to leave?’ But imagine, I am choosing them over my brothers, sisters, and their children.
"And they are declining to leave because they are saying, ‘how can we leave our daughters and sons? If they are going to die, we are going to stay and die with them’.
“I am in the most difficult situation anyone can find themselves in, where I am having to choose which members of my family I am helping to evacuate – if I can.”
In the southern Gaza town of Rafah, 1.4 million displaced Palestinians have fled to seek shelter from fighting elsewhere.
There are still no indications of the ground invasion from Israel as the UN warns of “slaughter”, notifying Israel that they would not assist in evacuations as it would be defined as “forced displacement”.
Dr Ghayyda said: “Sleeping has been taken away from them. Eating has been taken away. Drinking clean water has been taken.
“Do they shower and have baths? No, they don’t and if they do it, it’s once every six weeks if they can collect enough water in a bucket to boil.”
Dr Ghayyda hopes a ceasefire can be achieved as surrounding areas have been flattened by bombing and there’s nowhere suitable for the displaced to move to.
He said: “Everyone is a tragedy. Every story is carnage. And I don’t think any of us can even begin to imagine the level of suffering they are going through.”
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