New report: Caught in the Crossfire Tanzanian Agriculture Students Caught up by the Gaza – Israel War

This is the testimony of one of the survivors of the massacre from Kibbutz Mefalsim, who together with his roommate and accompanied by the military, was taken to milk cows, and returned to his room for a third day of siege in a combat zone. This occurred while the IDF rescued residents of the Kibbutz over several days of difficult battles.

This statement appears alongside other disturbing testimonies in a new report, published by The Hotline for Refugees and Migrants. The report collects and presents, for the first time, the stories and testimonies of Tanzanian agriculture students who arrived in Israel for a year of professional development and agricultural work in the communities of the Gaza Envelope and who survived the October 7th massacre.

These foreign students were not immune from the chaos that characterized the response of government authorities in managing the situation and attending to the needs of all the area’s residents. It was several days until the students were evacuated from the Gaza envelope and, some of them remained besieged in battle zones, unable to leave their rooms, for a full week until they were evacuated to a safe place.

The report details the efforts of HRM to arrange appropriate compensation for these students, efforts which have not yet succeeded. Likewise, with this report, we continue our effort to memorialize the lives of those Tanzanian citizens who were murdered in the massacre: Joshua Loitu Molel and Clemence Felix Mtenga.  Mollel’s body remains in Hamas’ hands in the Gaza strip, and his family is desperate to bring him for burial in his native land.