04-07-2025
New citizens say family in Gaza wish they were dead
A woman from Gaza who has made a home in Dunedin says the last news she heard of her family was they wished they were dead.
Sabreen Alsaadoni took an oath to become a New Zealand citizen at the Dunedin Town Hall on Wednesday after escaping Gaza in 2015.
Three of her cousins have died in the war and she has an aunt and uncle living in a camp in Gaza because their home had been destroyed.
One of her cousins had been targeted and killed by a Israeli drone strike on his home.
Mrs Alsaadoni said she was in contact with her aunt two weeks ago and life had become very difficult for them.
"They don't have food and they can't buy anything because it's very expensive.
"Their children have several diseases because there is pollution in the air.
"They prefer to die."
Her family in Gaza was waiting for peace, but at this stage they wanted to leave as soon as possible.
Sugar cost about $NZ100 per gram and one onion was about $70, she said.
They had applied for a visitor visa for New Zealand, but their application was declined.
Mrs Aslaadoni's elderly grandmother, Aughia Alsaadoni, had escaped to Egypt, but was on her own with no-one to look after her.
Her application to come to New Zealand was denied because she needed to have health insurance, which cost about $15,000.
Mrs Alsaadoni said her mother, Jamila Alsaadoni, who is also a New Zealand citizen, cried every time she heard about an attack because she could not bring the rest of her family to New Zealand.
"I can't tell you how they suffer.
"My mother is crying all the time because she is afraid to lose her brothers and her sister."
Although the war had escalated in October 2023, Palestinians had been under attack for a long time, she said.
Mrs Alsaadoni's father, Nasouh Alsaadoni, was shot in the leg when he was just a year-old.
She said some of her family escaped to Malaysia in 2015 and waited for their refugee status to be granted in New Zealand before moving here five years ago.
"For a long time, we waited to be here.
"We are very happy because we are in a place that respects humans and I don't feel I am different from others."
When her family family arrived in New Zealand, they
had just $1 to their name.
Mrs Alsaadoni, who is studying tourism at the University of Otago, works with the Red Cross to help other refugees from Gaza.
Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich oversaw the citizenship ceremony on Wednesday and another 138 people also became New Zealand citizens yesterday across two ceremonies.
