Gaza: Samar Aita, who went through three wars in the Gaza Strip before moving to Ukraine four years ago, never imagined that her computer engineering studies would be interrupted by a conflict away from home.
A 21-year-old Palestinian woman is now back with her family in Rafa, a city in southern Gaza, after fleeing Kharkiv, a city in northeastern Ukraine.
“I never thought I would go from war to war, from bombing to bombing, from displacement to displacement and from refuge to refuge,” Aita said.
“Ukraine was a very quiet and safe place, so I never thought that I would be forced to flee or that my life would be in danger.”
In 2014, Aita lost several relatives when Israel bombed her neighborhood during a 50-day war with Gaza terrorists, a scene she and her mother recalled with the first news of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Aita’s mother Shadia said, “Knowing that your daughter is alone and you don’t know how dangerous it is, I got stressed and I couldn’t sleep for a week.”
Armed groups in Israel and Gaza, led by the enclave’s Islamic Hamas rulers, have fought four wars since 2008, including one last May, and the region remains volatile.
Aita said that his life was in danger several times during his escape from Ukraine, including exiting Kharkiv by train when he was forced to suddenly change track during a bombing, leading to a 12-hour journey. Turned into a 36 hour exam.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry and Migrants said it had monitored the evacuation of 1,300 Palestinians, including 600 students, from Ukraine since the start of the invasion.
Ahmed al-Deeq, advisor to the Palestinian Foreign Minister, said that most of the studies were medical. He said the Palestinian Authority would help those who fled Ukraine to study at universities in the West Bank and Gaza.
At the Nusrat refugee camp in Gaza, Rabia Abu Rabiya said her journey from Ukraine took 11 days. In his fourth year at Poltava State Medical University, he aimed to become a dentist like his father.
“I see a dead end in front of my eyes, and my future is uncertain,” said Abu Rabia, about 200 other students who were evacuated from Gaza, but preferred to live in many other European countries.