An American family trapped in Gaza became a nightmare as a result of an upcoming reunion
Hamas is Coming: Israel’s First Security Planned Emergency Medical Emergency Corridor – Its Arrival in Washington, where It Happens
There are increasing air strikes on Gaza after the weekend’s surprise air, land and sea attack by Hamas that killed 1,300 Israelis and took 150 hostages.
Videos from inside Gaza show children being pulled from the rubble. Some 24 families have been wiped out since Saturday.
The Biden administration said there are talks to create a safe corridor for civilians, echoing a call from the U.S. World Food Program to create emergency humanitarian corridors.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said this will be the beginning of things to come. The country is preparing for a ground invasion. The Israeli human rights organization B’telem says it is a criminal policy of revenge. The Red Cross says that the aid for Gaza is drying up.
Weapons arrived in Israel as the U.S. Secretary of State is going to deliver a message of solidarity and support.
In Washington on Tuesday, President Joe Biden called Hamas’ attack on Israel “evil” and promised to make sure Israel has what it needs.
In Israel, Biden said that more than 20 Americans are missing and 14 have been killed. John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, said on All Things Considered that there are some Americans being held captive by Hamas but that the number is very small.
There’s a larger number of Americans that are just missing. Some could be in the hostage pool if they turn up. We just don’t know. So, we’re, we’re trying to get as much information as we can,” Kirby said.
Hamas’s bloodshed in Gaza: the horror of a child’s life in the light of the 9/11 anniversary of the Second Intifada
The bloodshed began on the Jewish Simchat Torah holiday, and a day after the 50th anniversary of the start of the Yom Kippur War, when Israel came under attack by Arab countries.
The terrorist group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel’s southern border on Saturday. Militants infiltrated Israel’s border using paragliders, motorbikes, and boats.
There isn’t any electricity. Families are using generators sparingly if they have fuel left — Abuzayda says she can only charge her phone for several hours at a time every few days. They could lose their communication with the outside world at any moment, because of the sporadic access to communication.
Over 2,300 Israelis and Palestinians have been killed so far, the majority of them civilians. I am saddened by the killing of all civilians. I know that the pain of an Israeli parent is no different from the anguish of a mother or father in Gaza. Yet I’m not surprised that we have found ourselves at this bloody point of no return.
Many of the fighters who broke those walls were born during the second intifada and are just a few years older than Ali. Their entire experience has been Israeli military occupation, siege and devastating military assault upon assault in an enclave of 140 square miles, with unemployment and poverty rates of approximately 50 percent. These are the conditions that shaped so many in Gaza, not a justification. Israel helped create these fighters by starving them of hope, dignity and a future.
A senior U.S. official told NPR that it’s also working to get approximately 400-600 U.S. citizens out of Gaza, where roughly 100 of them have contacted the embassy for help.
Since moving to the U.S. seven years ago, the 30-year-old hasn’t been back in Gaza. Abuzayda and her husband had been talking for many months about when to visit.
We had changed our tickets many times before we decided to come to Gaza. “And our short vacation just turned into a nightmare.”
Abuzayda, her husband Abood and their one-and-a-half year old son Yousef traveled from Massachusetts for what was supposed to be a two-week trip. They don’t know when they’ll be able to go home — and not for lack of trying.
Abuzayda said she called the U.S. embassy many times after Saturday’s attack. They repeatedly told her that there wasn’t any news. She tried to get in touch with the embassy in Cairo.
“We tell them we’re running out of milk, diapers, we’re not safe, we’re citizens — they’re not doing anything,” she said. “And in the meantime they keep posting stuff about the U.S. citizens in Israel. Everyone in Israel has been reminded to leave every five minutes.
Major US airlines have halted flights in and out of the country, making it difficult for others to leave. The total number is unknown, but New York Rep. Mike Lawler said his district alone has “hundreds of constituents in Israel trying to get home.”
The US increased the travel advisory for Israel and the West Bank to level three on Wednesday, which is “reconsider travel.” The advisory for Gaza is “do not travel” at levels four and five.
Abuzayda, who is staying at her parents’ house with other relatives, said her sister-in-law and her three kids had tried to cross the Rafah border, but they had to turn back after it came under an Israeli airstrike.
Trying to make the most of what they have to say: ‘What’s next for You, my baby, and what is going to happen?’ (The American family trapped in Gaza)
She said that it’s not safe outside or inside. The markets themselves are running low on supplies. She’s trying to make the most of the milk and diapers she has left — and keep Yousef not only safe but in good spirits.
“The hardest feeling ever is to hide your fear and show the opposite, just to keep my son positive,” she said. He thinks this is fireworks because he doesn’t know anything. And every time I tell him, while I’m crying, ‘okay mommy, clap clap this is a fireworks, it’s nothing.’ He will jump if I am not next to him.
Source: An overdue reunion became a nightmare for this American family now trapped in Gaza
Anas Baba, a Palestinian producer in Gaza, is trying to survive the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip as a “Collective Punishment”
“Please, please save us,” she said, her voice strained. “Thank you.” I got my baby after six times of IVF. We have been attempting to call the embassy. Nobody’s helping, nobody’s getting back to us. Please save us.”
The infrastructure has been weakened by 16 years of blockade and four wars. It’s something that Palestinians have never seen before.
Last night he found himself stranded in the darkness outside the main hospital. It was too dark to move, and fuel was running out.
He said that they were trying to survive. There are no safe places to hide or to flee from the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
The journalist Abu Zarafeh said his neighborhood is too dangerous to go back to now. Communication with some of his children has been cut off.
It’s a conflict between Hamas and Israel. So why is Israel destroying our homes? Do you think it is ruining whole neighborhoods? Abu Zarafeh spoke. “This is collective punishment.”
Anas Baba, NPR’s producer in Gaza, is living a nightmare. He’s also trying to survive the war as he tries to cover it. He tried to evacuate his family from their home.
“I took them from the house, and I started to just think, where am I going to take them? Where am I going to hide them? Is there a safe place in Gaza? He said it over the phone.
He said that everyone is thinking about how to stay alive. We’re part of this world, we are humans. We are part of this civilization. Don’t forget us.”
