Evacuation from Gaza: Bulgarians with children waiting at Rafah border crossing

Nineteen Bulgarian citizens, including babies and children, are waiting at Rafah crossing to leave Gaza after they were on a Hamas list of foreign nationals allowed to leave the territory.

The list was published this morning, November 1. Shortly afterwards, BNT contacted one of the Bulgarians there, Amin Kadada, who confirmed that he was waiting at the Rafah crossing ready to cross the border.

Samar Chinino, 29, who is also on the list of Bulgarian citizens, is waiting at the crossing with her three young children.

"I am 29 years old and I am here with my husband who is 35 years old. I have three children - one is 7, one is 4 and the third is only 1 year old. My sister is here, she is also a Bulgarian citizen, she is here with her 3-month-old baby.

There are a lot of people of different nationalities here. I left with only one bag. They don't give us food and water at the border, but I bring for the kids at least. No one tells us when we will cross.

I want to go to Bulgaria - where there is no war, it is peaceful. My mother and father got married in Bulgaria, I was born there, lived in Bulgaria for 4 years and then they moved to Gaza.

My father came to Bulgaria because of the war in Kuwait. My mother is Bulgarian and is now in Bulgaria and my father is in Turkey with my sisters and brothers.

I think there is a consul from the Bulgarian embassy waiting for us on the other side of the border in Egypt. He is waiting for all Bulgarian citizens to cross the border.

My whole family is worried about not being able to leave. Israel is attacking us and we don't know what to do - we have no electricity, we have nothing and we know nothing. The children got sick because the air is toxic. We can't breathe, we can't live, we have no water, no food, and we have small children,” she said.