The Abu Al-Rub family is a Palestinian family from Jenin who have been living in the Ukrainian city of Irpin for the past few years. With the outbreak of fighting and the massive firing on the city, the family was forced to abandon their home.
They found refuge in a village not far away – Entebbe, a village populated by Chabad followers, led by the rabbi of the community, Rabbi Moshe Asman.
Rabbi Asman opened the local guest house to many Jews who were forced to flee their home, from where he tried to rescue them outside the borders of Ukraine, while providing them with shelter, food, drink and other necessary equipment.
The Abu Al-Rub family arrived in the area and found shelter together with members of the Jewish community.
Dr. Yaakov Abu Alrov, the father of the family, told i24NEWS reporter Adam Habiballah: “Irpin is a city in the suburbs of Kyiv, about 15 kilometers away. Now, the Russian tanks tried to enter Kiev via Irpin, but they did not succeed, because they faced resistance. “There were a lot of fights. There were a number of fights in Irpin and during all this time we were at home and afraid to go out, we kept going back and forth to the shelters, sometimes we had to stay home. We had no chance to escape before.”
“We were told we had to evacuate from where he was, because he was no longer safe. So we drove as soon as there was a respite from the fighting and it was an adventure because we really did not know what to expect. My wife and two children were with me in the car and drove up here, there were gunshots. “We came across five checkpoints of the Ukrainian army.”
Yaakov says that in this routine the journey does not last more than half an hour: “But it took us two hours with all the checkpoints. It was a difficult situation.”
Jacob added that Irpin is a strategic city: “If they invade Irpin and take over the city they will be right at the entrance of Kyiv.”
Dr. Yaakov says that there is incredible solidarity among the Ukrainian people: “This wave of solidarity is clearly visible during the war. There is no difference, all residents receive the same treatment. Whether it’s Arabs or not, Ukrainians, people from all other religions, all stick together, people are united in this situation, because they need each other to survive. We are talking about children and women who were suddenly thrown out of their homes, civilians became homeless overnight. It is a situation that calls for automatic humanitarian unity. “
In the village where the i24NEWS team stayed together with Dr. Abu Al-Rub, his family, the villagers and dozens of other refugees, members of the Chabad community are working to rescue them in a secure convoy of buses outside the country’s borders.
Dr. Abu Al-Rub says that they received a lot of support from members of the Chabad community and received a warm welcome: “They helped us a lot, gave us shelter and received us generously. They offered us food, drink and other essentials.”
Dr. Jacob added that they do not know where they will go after being rescued from the borders of Ukraine: “Perhaps to Poland or Romania, wherever we may reach in one of the neighboring European countries, if we are given this opportunity. But in truth, the situation seems to be only getting worse. We see on TV Russian reinforcements growing every day, we do not know if we can pass or not. “