Khalid El Astal had long dreamed of moving from Gaza to Ireland but his arrival came in the most heartbreaking of circumstances. In this extract from new book ‘Are We Human?’, he describes how his family and the Palestinian people have suffered under Israeli bombardment
Khalid El Astal with his daughter Sara and his son Ali in Sallynoggin, Co Dublin. Photo: Steve Humphreysd
My name is Khalid. My family is Palestinian but I was born in Belfast, where my father was completing his PhD at Queen’s University. When I was eight, my family moved back to Gaza.
Life in Gaza has been far from easy. Over the past 15 years, I have lived through five wars, not to mention numerous other hardships. Of my 31 years, Gaza has been under siege for nearly 17.