Evacuated Gazan family told they have to leave Dublin despite complex hospital care needs

Eimer McAuley

A GAZAN FAMILY brought to Ireland under the government’s medical evacuation programme say they face imminent eviction from their Dublin accommodation and relocation to rural Kilkenny, despite the complex medical needs of their two sons. 

Amir Wali (22) arrived in Ireland through a government-supported evacuation scheme designed primarily for seriously ill children from Gaza. Both he and his 15-year-old brother suffer from severe hereditary haemophilia.

While his brother was one of the 30 paediatric patients evacuated to Ireland, Amir was able to come through family reunification. However, his family say that his medical needs are more severe, and he would be badly impacted by the proposed relocation. 

The Wali family, alongside five other families, were issued notice at the end of May requiring them to leave their accommodation at the Caritas residential centre on Merrion Road by Friday 26 June.

The Irish Red Cross (IRC), which operates accommodation for families under the programme, has offered the family of seven a place in a centre in rural Kilkenny, more than a 25-minute walk from the nearest bus stop.

For Amir, who also has a complex knee injury sustained during an Israeli strike near his family’s tent in Deir al-Balah, the move would mean a significant disruption to ongoing specialist treatment at St James’s Hospital and the National Coagulation Centre in Dublin.

The accommodation offered in Kilkenny is a three-bedroom apartment with one bathroom for seven people, including two children. The IRC is proposing to cover rent for a “maximum” of 12 months, and has made it clear to the family that they would not have tenancy rights. 

Despite having formally appealed the relocation, the family were informed by the IRC that remaining in Dublin beyond the deadline would be considered “unlawful”.

A letter also warned that refusal of the offer could leave them at risk of “becoming homeless” and stated: “The IRC will be obliged to notify Tusla, the child and family agency, giving that children will be involved.”

Amir says the correspondence has left the family distressed as the deadline approaches.

He told The Journal they have contacted political representatives, including the office of the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan, but “no one has engaged with our letters”.

Councillor John Hurley, who has been supporting the family, says the relocation plan has been pursued without adequate regard to Amir’s medical condition and continuity of care. 

He said that telling families they are going to rural Kilkenny “or out on the street” is “not the right approach”, and added that many of the Palestinians being told they will have to move out of Dublin have children in school here, and have integrated with the local community. 

Amir has secured a place to study computer science at University College Dublin (UCD), while his 12-year-old sister has a school place arranged in Dublin from September. He says daily travel from Kilkenny would not be realistic given his condition and reliance on his parents as carers.

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The journey to Ireland

Amir says that living in Gaza under daily bombardment from Israel has had a long-lasting impact on his physical and mental health, as he has endured starvation, and has “escaped death several times”.  

“I was about 37 kilograms [just under 6 stone] when I arrived in Ireland, basically just skin and bone.

“I’d had a bad bleed after the explosion, and there were many times then when we’d get a warning that the whole area was going to be bombed, so we would have to get up and run, and I was trying to run on my injury. They were truly horrific days at the end,” he said.

Amir crossed from Gaza to Jordan in an evacuation process that was overseen by the Israeli Defence Forces. 

“They refused to make my evacuation easier by giving me a wheelchair. We had to walk to the Israeli side from Gaza when we got to the crossing point. It was 30 minutes, a very long walk. I did it because I had to stay alive,” he said.

Amir spent several weeks in St James’s Hospital after arriving in Ireland in October 2025. He is now awaiting a full knee replacement and continues to attend hospital several times a week.

Fatima, his mother, has argued in her appeal that relocation outside Dublin would make ongoing treatment unworkable. The National Coagulation Centre has also advised against Amir travelling to appointments by public transport.

The Irish Red Cross has previously told families that patients in Ireland commonly travel to Dublin hospitals for treatment. 

The IRC ceased funding taxi transport for medical appointments earlier this year, moving instead to reimbursement of public transport fares.

For Amir to get to St James’s from the Kilkenny location, he will need to walk for half an hour, board a bus, and then take a Luas, in a journey that will take up to three hours. 

A spokesperson for the Department of Health told The Journal that its priority is ensuring that the children receiving care under the medical evacuation initiative are in “safe” accommodation and have “uninterrupted” access to healthcare. 

They added that while the Department “understands” that some families would prefer to remain in Dublin, an extensive search for longer-term accommodation has not identified any possible locations. 

They added that the Irish Red Cross will provide transport for the first month of the relocation, which will be a shuttle bus into the city centre. 

The IRC has been contacted for comment.

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