S. Korean family returns home after fleeing Gaza via Egypt

A South Korean family who fled the besieged Gaza Strip via an Egyptian border returned home Monday.

The Emirates plane with the family on board landed at Incheon International Airport, the main gateway to the country, west of Seoul, at around 5:05 p.m.

The plane made a stopover at Dubai before flying to Seoul.

The family of five departed from Cairo late Sunday (local time), where they had taken shelter after evacuating from the war-torn region by crossing the Rafah border last Thursday.

The family -- a South Korean woman identified only by her surname Choi, her naturalized husband of Palestinian descent and their three children -- had been living in Gaza for more than seven years before the armed conflict between Israel and the Hamas militant group began.

The family declined to be interviewed at the airport. (Yonhap)