Mother ‘beyond relieved’ as British daughter finally able to flee Gaza

The mother of a British woman has said she is “beyond relieved” after her daughter was finally able to flee war-torn Gaza, but added “I have an acute awareness that she’s very privileged that she’s able to leave” and “I have a bit of guilt along with that joy”.

Zaynab Wandawi, 29, a British national from Salford in Greater Manchester, travelled to Gaza at the beginning of October with her husband, who is British Palestinian, and his relatives for a family member’s wedding before the Israel-Hamas war erupted.

Ms Wandawi, an English language teacher, and a group of 12 family members – 10 of whom are British nationals – attempted to cross the border into Egypt previously, but were told their names were not on the list.

However, on Monday Ms Wandawi was able to cross into Egypt with her husband, mother-in-law, sister-in-law and five of her brothers-in-law.

Two of her brothers-in-law stayed in order to help another family member leave.

Ms Wandawi’s mother Lalah Ali-Faten told the PA news agency: “I am beyond relief, I feel so much lighter today, physically and mentally. I am beyond relieved.

“I am very thankful they’re out, but I have an acute awareness that she’s very privileged that she’s able to leave.

“I have a bit of guilt along with that joy, because I know there are so many Palestinian families that weren’t able to leave because they don’t have the luxury of having a nationality that will get you out of that warzone.”

Ms Ali-Faten said she received a notification that the Rafah border crossing was open before letting her daughter’s group know.

She said that it took most of the day for them to be processed, before they were able to enter Egypt.

They have since boarded a bus to Cairo on their way to a hotel.

“She called me when she was sitting on the bus because they were waiting for the bus to fill up with British nationals,” said Ms Ali-Faten.

“She sounded more herself than I’ve heard her over the last month, she sounded more like Zaynab when I was speaking with her.

“She sounded kind of peppy and she had energy in her voice.”