KUALA LUMPUR: Nurul Ain Haron, a Malaysian woman stranded in Palestine, has been evacuated from the Gaza conflict area together with her Palestinian husband, Mohamed A.M Shaat yesterday (Nov 12) at 2.23am (Malaysian time).
The Foreign Ministry said the couple was brought to safety through the Rafah border crossing, and the evacuation was facilitated by the Malaysian ambassador to Cairo and other embassy officials.
"As soon as Nurul Ain and her husband arrived at the crossing, she was contacted by the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) and Foreign Minister (Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir) who had asked how they were doing via a video call from Makkah.
"The evacuation was done successfully following a meeting between Anwar and Arab Republic of Egypt president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi during the former's work visit to the republic on Oct 23.
"Further coordination was then made by the Malaysian embassies in Cairo and Amman respectively. The Malaysian embassy in Cairo had also rendered the necessary consular assistance to them," the ministry said in a statement today.
The ministry extended its appreciation and gratitude to the Arab Republic of Egypt and Qatar governments as well as its embassies in Kuala Lumpur for the cooperation and priority accorded to Malaysians in a bid to safely evacuate Malaysians from the Gaza conflict area.
Earlier, 37-year-old Nurul Ain expressed her strong desire to return home and continue assisting Palestinians amid the ongoing conflict.
She said despite the reopening of the Khan Younis border nearly three weeks ago, there were no signs of prompt evacuation for Malaysians stranded in the area.
She told Berita Harian that she was dermined to leave Palestine as there was nothing much she could do to help by staying in the country.
Nurul Ain and her husband live in the United Arab Emirates and they arrived in Gaza on Oct 1.
It was her first time returning to her in-law's place in Khan Younis after six years of marriage.