Indian woman from Kashmir evacuated from war-torn Gaza

Jerusalem: An Indian woman from Kashmir who had sought immediate evacuation from the war-torn Hamas-ruled Gaza has safely reached Egypt with the help of Indian missions in the region, according to her husband.

Lubna Nazir Shaboo and her daughter Karima, crossed the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza on Monday evening.

"They are in al-Arish (a city in Egypt). Tomorrow morning (Tuesday) they will move to Cairo," Lubna's husband Nedal Toman said in a text message sent to PTI from Gaza.

The only exit route from Gaza, the Rafah crossing with Egypt, has been infrequently opened the past few weeks to let humanitarian supplies enter Gaza and also let some foreign nationals and wounded people cross over to the other side.

In a telephone call to PTI on Sunday, Lubna confirmed that her name was among the people who could leave Gaza and thanked profusely the Indian missions in the region -- in Ramallah, Tel Aviv and Cairo -- for making this possible.

On October 10, Lubna had reached out to PTI over the phone seeking help for evacuation.

"We are facing a brutal war here and everything is being destroyed and bombarded in a matter of seconds," she had told PTI.

Following the unprecedented attacks by Hamas militants on October 7 in the southern areas of the Jewish state, Israel declared war launching a counter-offensive with the twin objectives of ousting Hamas, which has ruled the coastal Strip since 2007, and freeing around 240 people who were taken hostage by the Islamic faction.

“The sounds of bombardment are too scary and the whole house shakes. It is a very, very scary situation,” Lubna had told PTI before moving with her family to the southern part of Gaza where she spent several days with acquaintances before being evacuated.

She had mentioned that their "water supply was officially cut off" in the middle of the night of October 9 and they were without electricity, which made them decide to move to the south and seek help in evacuation.

Lubna had also said that she hadn't seen anything like this before and had two families living with them who had to run away after bombardment in the bordering areas of Gaza.

“We are not able to go anywhere because there is no safe place for us anywhere and the Gaza Strip is too small and it is closed from every side. There are no exit points over here,” she said.

“I have already asked for help from the Representative office of India in Ramallah to help me get to a safer place along with my husband and my daughter,” she had said in a video message sent to PTI.