INDEPENDENT SENATOR TOM Clonan has pleaded with the Government to issue a visa to a seriously ill Gazan man and his wife so that they can be reunited with their family in Ireland.

Speaking on the floor of the Seanad this morning, Clonan raised the case of Jehad Sebah as his daughter, Walaa Sebah, watched on from the Seand visitor’s gallery. 

Walaa, who works for the Red Cross, lives in Ireland. She was accompanied by a staff member from Trinity College, where her younger sister Rawan (20) has secured a scholarship to study pharmacy. Rawan and her 27-year-old brother Ahmed are both still at risk in Gaza.

Jehad Sebah, who is 57 years old and suffering from a serious cardiac condition, managed to escape Gaza with his wife Rina. 

The pair are now in Egypt, where Jehad is being held at El Arish hospital in the Northern Sinai, where he has been told he does not have access to the medical specialists he needs.

“He’s effectively detained there, along with Walla’s mom, Rina, who’s 51,” Clonan said. 

Clonan appealed to the Irish Government to issue a visa to the husband and wife so that they can be reunited with their daughter and so that Jehad can receive the medical care he needs. 

“The Al Sebah family has a very intimate and close connection with Ireland. Walaa’s younger sister, Rawan, she’s only 20. She’s the same age as my daughter, and she is trapped in Gaza with all of the destruction that’s there with her brother, Ahmed.

“But Rawan just got a scholarship to do pharmacy in Trinity College, Dublin and we’re hoping that there will be a pathway for Rawan to come and join Walaa,” Clonan said. 

He said his immediate ask is for the government to facilitate and expedite a visa for Walaa’s parents. 

“We’ve heard so much about what has happened to the people of Gaza. At this point, 14,500 children have been slaughtered in Gaza, and it is de facto, a genocide,” Clonan said.

“Before the world’s eyes, we have genocide taking place on an unprecedented scale in this century.  The Government have shown great moral leadership, the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste in calling out these genocidal actions, and we might throw our hands up and say ‘what can we do?’ Ahmed is trapped there, Walaa’s brother.

“And I know that the Israelis, as they move through the territory, they’re carrying out what are euphemistically referred to in the media as ‘field executions’. They’re murdering boys and men. They’re murdering them. We can help the Sebah family. We can reunite them.

“This is something that we can do for a family, practically, to reunite them. And in time, I hope that Rawan gets out and then Ahmed so that we can save this family,” Clonan said. 

Responding on behalf of the Government, Junior Minister Michael Moynihan said he would raise the matter with the Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan.