Irish-Palestinian Zak Hania said there were times he feared for his life after being trapped in Gaza for the past seven months.
Mr Hania has finally fled Gaza and will return to Ireland this weekend.
Speaking to the News At One after making his way to Egypt through the Rafah crossing, he recalled: "The bombings were constant, day and night.
"I was staying with my nephews and I remember one night we thought we would not survive - the bombardments were so close.
"We were hugging each other just in case we died."
Mr Hania said he was looking forward to travelling home to Dublin and being reunited with his wife and four children - but had "conflicting" feelings about his return to safety.
"I went through a lot in the past seven months. I thank God I am safe now but it was a very, very tough experience.
"I remain very worried about my sisters, my cousins, my nephews and nieces [that are left behind].
"I hope the war will stop very soon."
Mr Hania described conditions in Rafah as "beyond imagination".
He recalled: "We lived constantly under the noise and the sounds of drones, fighter jets, bombardments and artillery shells.
"Those sounds are constant - 24 hours. Can you imagine like, you know, living for seven months under all this fear and horror?
"And you're just hearing the bombs and you don't know where the target is. It was a very hard experience and I don't wish anybody to live [like that].
"Then we also had to try and survive in terms of getting food and water. It was a daily struggle."
Mr Hania said he "did not know" why it took so long for him to be able to leave Gaza and join his family back in Ireland.
He hopes to fly home tomorrow.
"I applied to leave through the Department of Foreign Affairs who have been trying [to help] all this time.
"[Israeli authorities] did not give me the go-ahead to leave and did not give me any explanations. Finally, thank God, I made it out of Gaza."
'It was heartbreaking'
Mr Hania's wife, Batoul Hania, and their four sons left Gaza via the Rafah crossing last November and have been campaigning to be reunited with him.
Ms Hania has previously described her families journey from Gaza City to the Rafah crossing as "hell" and spoke about her heartbreak at having to leave her husband behind.
"It was heartbreaking. Not just saying goodbye, saying farewell to somebody, you are in extraordinary conditions. You are leaving somebody in danger," Ms Batoul said.
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin last month said some 90 dependents of Irish citizens in Gaza had been evacuated to date, with around 40 remaining.
He said Irish authorities depended on Israel in terms of selecting evacuees, while the Egyptian side was responsible for facilitating the logistics of exiting people from the enclave.
Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs has said that a "number of Irish citizens and dependants crossed from Gaza into Egypt earlier this week".
It said that its embassy in Cairo is in contact with the citizens and providing support.
The department said that since the beginning of the crisis in Gaza, it assisted more than 100 Irish citizens and dependants to leave Gaza, and that a "small number of Irish citizens or immediate dependants of Irish citizens" remain there.
File footage Zak Hania shared with RTÉ News of Israeli bombing in Khan Younis
Additional reporting Dyane Connor
