An Irish citizen in Gaza City has made an emotional plea for help from the Irish Government, as Israeli airstrikes continue to bombard the besieged enclave.

Zak Hania spoke to Prime Time from his darkened home, where he is living with his wife and four Dublin-born children, all of whom are Irish citizens.

"I am helpless I can't do anything for them, and we hear the planes and we don’t know are we going to be next or not. We feel we are closer to death than life," Mr Hania said.

Mr Hania lives within the evacuation zone defined by Israeli military, but he has been unable to leave as members of his family are immobile.

"I find it hard to leave my nieces alone, they need me, and my uncle’s wife is paralysed and my uncle is old and his health is not good, they live next to my house, I don't know - I can't leave them, very difficult situation," he said via text message.

"There is no proper place to go to. It's humiliating to be honest."

Watch: Prime Time interview with Zak Hania

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On Wednesday morning, the Rafah crossing in southern Gaza was partially opened to holders of foreign passports following weeks of negotiations.

However, Mr Hania said that even if his family was on the list of people permitted to cross into Egypt, he would not be able to reach the border.

"The way is blocked and it is very dangerous," he said via text message on Wednesday.

In recent days, Israeli tanks have been recorded operating near the main route south from Gaza City.

Locations south of the evacuation line have also been regularly hit by air strikes.

Hamas controls the Gaza strip, which is home to 2.3m people, half of whom are children.

Since the deadly attacks by Hamas on southern Israel on 7 October in which 1,400 people were killed, the Israeli military has launched and expanded an air and land campaign aimed at destroying the group.

At least 8,796 people, including 3,648 children, have been killed in Gaza, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said.

"We are civilians, we are just people in our homes, we are doing nothing. Why are they attacking civilians and killing kids? Why?" Mr Hania said.

"This is terrible, this is horror, this is genocide. What [is] the world waiting for to stop this? We are fed up, we are dying inside. We are dying from injustice."

Speaking to Prime Time, Mr Hania, called for Irish and western leaders to intervene in the conflict and demand a ceasefire.

"Mr Varadkar, Mr Micheál Martin, do something. Ireland has to do something, Ireland had a distinguished position in this world, please ring Mr Biden and ask him for a ceasefire," Mr Hania said.

"We are dying by the minute and we are not sure if we will stay alive or not."

Read more: Irish-Palestinian citizen hopes family can be evacuated from Gaza soon

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said it has not been notified of any Irish citizens included on the list to leave Gaza on Wednesday.

In a statement, the DFA said it is urgently seeking to have Irish people included in subsequent evacuations.

It said the embassies in Cairo and Tel Aviv are in "constant communication" with the authorities in Egypt and Israel about Irish people stuck in Gaza.