One, a resident of Malmö, went to celebrate his centenarian grandmother's birthday. Another, an engineer at the Forsmark nuclear power plant north of Stockholm, took unpaid leave to visit his mother, who was suffering from cancer. A third was there for his brother's funeral. Others were there to see relatives. Since October 7 and the Hamas attack on Israel, "more than 400 Swedes" have been trapped in the Gaza Strip, according to figures from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Stockholm.
It is one of the largest contingents of foreigners and dual nationals in one place. On November 2, Egypt announced that it would help evacuate "around 7,000" foreign passport holders, representing "more than 60" nationalities. Late last week, around 450 of them were able to leave Gaza, via the Rafah border crossing. Closed over the weekend, it reopened on Monday, November 6. According to US State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel, the crossing was closed again on Wednesday, November 8, due to an unspecified "security circumstance". Patel told reporters the US expects the crossing will be reopened at "regular intervals" to allow aid to enter the Strip and foreign nationals to continue to leave.
While several hundred Americans, 100 French nationals and their families, and nationals of a dozen other nationalities have left, no Swedes have yet been evacuated. This is a source of incomprehension and anger for relatives, even though the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Stockholm confirmed – without specifying the number – that "Swedes" died in the bombardments in Gaza.
Among them was 4-year-old Nawal. She was killed with her sister Sila, 1, and their mother, Yasmina, on October 9. According to the Aftonbladet newspaper, which met the father, Ahmed, in Gothenburg, his wife – who was not Swedish – had applied for family reunification. His daughters were allowed to join him, but not his wife.
"Every time I get a call from an unknown number, I can't breathe," said Nasma Lubbad, a social worker in Stockholm. Her father, Joseph, 78, left his wife and five children in Sweden at the end of September to bury his brother in Gaza. He should have returned at the beginning of November, but now he is trapped. "He is diabetic, recovering from pancreatic cancer, and has only two days' supply of insulin," said his sobbing daughter.
Lubbad is very upset with Sweden. "As soon as my father heard that the border was going to reopen, he went there, taking risks. He went four or five times, waiting for hours, before discovering that there was a list and that only people whose names appeared on it could leave. Nobody told us anything." Nasma has written several times to the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but "[she] always receives almost the same e-mail, saying that the border is not open to Swedes."
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