Every six weeks, Amar’s family moves up and down the Gaza Strip, from tent to tent, as they seek safety from Israeli military bombardment.
But no matter where the Australian woman’s Palestinian Christian family flee to in Gaza, nowhere is safe — as
Israel’s declared ‘safe zones’ are shrinking and there Israeli strikes
In December, Amar’s aunt was shot dead in the stomach by an Israeli sniper at the Holy Family Parish in northern Gaza. When her daughter — Amar’s cousin — tried to retrieve her mother’s body, she was also shot dead.
“If you’re not safe in a protected place of worship, how can you be safe anywhere?” Amar told SBS News.
The attack at the time was condemned by the Pope as an act of “terrorism”.
Israel claimed responsibility for the attack, citing the presence of a rocket launcher in the parish.
Those sheltering at the parish, as well as the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, have said it is where many Christian families had .
Amar — who did not want to use her real name for fear of jeopardising her family’s chance of being granted visas — says her family in Gaza, including a male cousin, his wife, elderly mother-in-law and six children — aged between four and 18 — are currently sheltering in a tent in Nuseirat.
She has been unable to obtain visas for them to travel to Australia, receiving nine rejection letters.
Palestinians inspect the site where there was a Greek Orthodox church, destroyed following Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City, 20 October 2023. Credit: Abed Khaled/AP
Now, she and others in the Palestinian Christian community are pleading with the government to change its stance.
“The fear has increased, and the urgency has increased,” Amar said.
The nine are among 37 remaining members of her family left in Gaza.
Peter Dutton doubles down on Gaza visa ban
Earlier this month, Opposition leader Peter Dutton .
He claimed they could be “hidden Hamas” operatives or Hamas sympathisers — comments described as “racist” by independent MP Zali Steggall and Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi.
In response, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese warned against the danger of “stereotyping and targeting people because of their race or their faith”.
“People know that people from Gaza, or the West Bank, for that matter, are certainly not automatically Hamas supporters and shouldn’t be seen as being so,” Albanese said.
Arrivals from Gaza ‘showing signs of trauma’
Suzan Wahhab, president of Palestinian Christians in Australia (PCIA), told SBS News that her community of recent arrivals in Australia is simply seeking safety.
“I’ve been to most of these people’s houses. I have not heard anyone who has been sympathetic to Hamas,” she said.
“All these people are concerned about is to survive. They’ve lost everything.”
She said 400 of the almost 1,300 Palestinians who have successfully arrived in Australia since October 7 are from the Christian community.
With the assistance of a government grant for accommodation and settlement, she is housing 47 families — both Christian and Muslim.
‘Palestinian Christians are becoming extinct’
Israel’s post-October 7 assault on Gaza has already killed 3 per cent of the enclave’s Christian population of 1,200, according to the Palestinian state minister for foreign affairs and expatriates.
Wahhab fears the community faces the threat of “extinction”.
A nativity scene with rubble around symbolising the destruction in Gaza near the Church of the Nativity, in Bethlehem, 23 December, 2023. Credit: AP
“We want to save them but at the same time Palestinian Christians are becoming extinct. Extinct from the land of Jesus,” she said.
Wahhab said Peter Dutton’s comments obfuscate the reality on the ground and shift the blame to a deeply traumatised community.
“I think he’s gaslighting the Australian public because he’s not pointing the finger at the real cause of why people are leaving Gaza in the first place,” she said.
“Gaza has become uninhabitable.”
Amar’s cousin said his home was looted and trashed by the Israeli military. Source: Supplied
The PCIA is lobbying the government for more assistance, and Wahhab said mental health support for recent arrivals is at the top of its agenda.
“The people I’ve met have been sheltering in two churches since the first week of October,” she said.
“Some people are saying, ‘I don’t feel comfortable sleeping on a bed.’ Others don’t want to have a shower with hot water.
“We believe that they’re showing signs of trauma, but none of these people have been counselled or given any therapy.”
‘The Australian government tried to deport us’
Amar is reliving the trauma of her childhood as she watches her family and thousands of others face visa rejections.
She was born into the Dbayeh refugee camp in northern Beirut, where her grandparents fled in 1948.
At the time of her birth, her family had been living there for decades.
Israeli strikes on several refugee camps, including Dbayeh, during the 1982 Lebanese Civil War killed thousands.
Amar said 22 of the dead were members of her mother’s family.
Prior to the civil war, the Palestine Liberation Organisation was based in Lebanon and had carried out attacks on northern Israel.
later found then-Israeli defence minister Ariel Sharon “personally responsible for ignoring the danger of bloodshed and revenge” of the attacks on refugee camps.
Amar and her siblings playing in the yard of their suburban home in 1989, before they were detained. Source: Supplied
Amar, her parents and two siblings sought refuge in Yemen and Cyprus before arriving in Australia on holiday visas.
They renewed their visas every three months while applying for humanitarian protection status.
One evening, immigration authorities took Amar and her family from their suburban home and detained them at a facility beside an airport.
“We were about to sit to eat dinner. That night was spaghetti bolognese. They were going to chuck us into a van and take us to this centre,” she said.
“My neighbour said, ‘Let the kids eat a meal, let them enjoy some food before you do this to them’.
“They were forced to stand there and watch us eat before we were detained.”
The family found a lawyer who brought a case against their detention. Amar said some of her earliest memories are from inside a courtroom.
They later obtained Australian citizenship in 1996.
“We were very limited in terms of income and opportunity, but we were happy because we came from a place where we relied on UNRWA food cards,” she said, referring to the
The Australian visa process
Since October 7, . More than twice as many applications (7,111) have been rejected.
The visas being issued are subclass 600, or tourist visas, which do not permit work, study, access to Medicare or other social support.
Isobel McGarity, supervising senior solicitor at the Refugee Advice and Case Work Service (RACS), said tourist visas are not appropriate for people fleeing a war zone like Gaza.
“A visitor visa is, as the name suggests, to allow somebody to come to Australia as a visitor, whether that’s a tourist or to see family or friends,” she said.
The neighbourhood of Amar’s cousin has been thoroughly destroyed by months of incessant airstrikes, she said. Source: Supplied
“You need to demonstrate that you’re intending to visit and that you’re able to return home.”
RACS is calling on the government to instead consider emergency uplift visas.
By comparison, Ukrainian nationals
Once onshore, they were offered subclass 786 visas — a temporary humanitarian visa that allows for work, study and access to Medicare, Special Benefits and full work rights for three years.
, then later granted permanent refugee visas, which allowed them to become permanent residents and start a life in Australia.
Amar’s parents in Lebanon in 1987. Source: Supplied
Amar believes making a distinction between Palestinians on the basis of religion is polarising and doesn’t accurately reflect a collective sense of identity held by many in the community.
“Israel has bombed our churches, detained our priests, sniped a church bellringer back in 2002 — which, can I add, was well before October 7. That’s not limited to Gaza, ,” she said.
“But we’re all treated that way — Muslim and Christian.
“We all want peace and just to exist.”
At least 40,334 Palestinians have been killed and 93,356 injured in Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip since October 7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
Hamas’ October 7 attack on southern Israel killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities.
The significant escalation is the latest in a long-standing conflict between Israel and that has governed the Gaza Strip since the most recent elections in 2006.
