'It was like doomsday,' says Gaza woman after quitting Sudan

Palestinian medicine student Nour Kullab, who has recently been evacuated from Sudan, shows her university books, at her house in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 1, 2023. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

When bridges closed in her area of Sudan's capital Khartoum, Palestinian medical student Nour Kullab thought it was just another protest.

Before she could grasp what was happening, electricity and water were cut off amid the din of gunfire and rockets, Kullab told Reuters at her family house in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip four days after returning.

Palestinian medicine student Nour Kullab, who has recently been evacuated from Sudan, works on her laptop at her house, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, May 1, 2023. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

"I got out of my home, there were no rickshaws, only cars and no one stopped for me, the industrial zone was on fire, and shops were closed. I felt horror as if it was doomsday," Kullab, 25, said.

"When you see bodies scattered right and left, dismembered people, torched banks, you feel it is totally unsafe," she said.

Hundreds of people have been killed since a power struggle between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted into conflict on April 15.

Palestinian medicine student Nour Kullab, who has recently been evacuated from Sudan, and her mother speak to Reuters at their house in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 1, 2023. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

On Monday, the Palestinian foreign ministry said it had concluded the evacuation of Palestinians in Sudan with the collaboration of Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.

Gaza has gone through numerous wars between Israel and Palestinian factions and suffered its own bout of civil conflict. An Israeli-led blockade has restricted the movement of people and goods for years.

"It was worse than a war in Gaza," said Kullab, who spent days without bread or clean water after she quit her house to live with a Sudanese friend.

Palestinian medicine student Nour Kullab, who has recently been evacuated from Sudan, is hugged and kissed by her mother, at her house in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 1, 2023. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Shops were closed as looting spread.

"There was a guy who sold water in tankers, salty water, from the sea, from the river, what is important that it was water. We could see through some algae but we used to boil it and drink, only to become more thirsty after," said Kullab.

Kullab arrived in Sudan in 2015 to study medicine. Her studies were interrupted by civil conflict and the pandemic. When this war broke out she was days away from graduating. She had only a few exams to do.

Palestinian medicine student Nour Kullab, who has recently been evacuated from Sudan, watches a picture of herself on her mobile telephone, at her house in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 1, 2023. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

"I felt my future was taken away against my will, everything has gone in vain," she said.

On Friday, her family welcomed her at the crossing with Egypt with tears, not with celebrations as they had planned for later in May when she would have finished her studies.

"Happy conditions became sad," said Kullab's mother Ruwaida.

(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by Angus MacSwan)