The airplane carrying Belarusian citizens rescued from the Gaza Strip landed safely at Minsk National Airport last night. Tatiana Abualkas and her three children had almost lost hope to return to a peaceful and quiet life, when they will no longer have to hide in basements, live in tents, fall asleep under exploding shells, wondering each time if this will be their last night. It is difficult to put into words what trials the Abualkas family had to endure. But now it is all in the past, and ahead is a new life under a peaceful sky, which Tatiana and her children have not seen for more than a year.
The way to Belarus was not easy. Belarusian diplomats, with the assistance of the International Committee of the Red Cross, did a truly gigantic job. Problems began already at the very beginning: the evacuation through Tel Aviv Airport did not work. It was also impossible to get the family out through the checkpoints located on the Egypt-Palestine and Egypt-Israel borders.
As a result of diplomatic effort, the family could get into Jordan through the Allenby checkpoint on the Israel-Jordan border. Tatiana and her children were placed in an accommodation in Jordan and soon afterward they flew to Minsk.
"We almost lost our mind over the year"
At the airport, the Abualkas family was greeted by Tatiana's parents, other family members and friends. Tatiana's father Aleksandr Bartosh could hardly hold back tears as he talked to journalists. The man admitted that he and his wife had almost lost their mind over the year. They could rarely get in touch with Tatiana; thus, they simply did not know whether their daughter was alive or whether they would see their grandchildren.
"Of course, I am happy and relieved now. But over this year, we've almost gone crazy. When we were going to the airport, I told my grandson: look how Belarus will welcome its citizens. I'm very glad that our consuls helped," Aleksandr Bartosh told reporters.
The Grodno Oblast Executive Committee recommended the man to contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They responded to the man's request immediately and organized the evacuation of four Belarusian citizens from the Gaza Strip.
"To be honest, we thought they would come here with other Belarusians evacuated from the Gaza Strip last year. We hoped they were on that evacuation flight. And then on TV we saw that six Belarusians decided to stay in Palestine of their own free will. I realized that four of them were my family members," Aleksandr Bartosh recalled.
"The most important thing is peace"
Tatiana Abualkas' relatives no longer have to worry. The woman and her children safely reached Minsk, although this journey was full of stumbling blocks. The family spent almost three days on their feet. According to Tatiana, it would have hardly been possible to get to Belarus without the assistance and support of the Belarusian diplomats.
"I would like to express my deep gratitude to our diplomats for their help. We were in touch all the time. The children send their deepest greetings and gratitude to our diplomats," said Tatiana Abualkas.
The woman remarked that their way back to Belarus was difficult and took three days. The first thing Tatiana plans to do is to get her children into school: "The children have not studied at all for a year. Their language skills need to be improved."
Tatiana underlined: the most important thing is peace. Peace is when you know that you will wake up in the morning, when you do not need to hide in the basement and worry about your life and the lives of your children. "Peace is what matters the most, all other problems are solvable," she said.
"We went through hell"
Tatiana described the trials the family went through over the year as a nightmare that seemed to never end. "This region is constantly shaken by wars. We thought this war would last ten days. The longest war I can remember lasted 53 days. No one expected that this war would go on for so long," Tatiana noted.
The Abualkas family got an evacuation order to leave their home. There was no time to pack things so people took only the bare necessities, fleeing their homes in fear.
"We lived either with relatives, or in tents. Our tent is still standing. We went through hell there. Everything lies in ruins. We drove past one of settlements, and I could not even imagine how much time it would take to rebuild everything, to restore livelihoods in that place. Everything was laid to waste there, all the buildings were either destroyed or damaged," Tatiana recalled.
"Thank God, now we are at home. Thank you for not abandoning us. Thank you very much for your understanding and support," the woman said.
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