600 Americans Still Trapped in Gaza – as Egypt and Israel Refuse Safe Passage

A new deal announced Wednesday that will allow humanitarian aid to reach Gaza after 12 days of war doesn’t mention the fate of thousands of desperate foreigners and dual nationals trapped in the bombarded Palestinian enclave — including an estimated 600 Americans.

Israel and Egypt have kept Gaza's southern border crossing closed since the war began. Abdulla Okal has been trying desperately to get his wife, Haneen, and three children ages 8, 2, and two months out of Gaza and back home to Union County, New Jersey. 

After President Joe Biden announced the aid deal Wednesday, Okal blamed the U.S. for failing to get his family out.

“We've been feeling that we're abandoned. Biden talked about humanitarian aid but he did not even mention Americans who need to evacuate,” he said. “He [Biden] has to make sure he evacuates all Americans from Gaza safely by the time they get humanitarian relief in Gaza.” 

The U.S. State Department estimates that there are about 600 Americans currently in Gaza, reported NBC News. Most are dual nationals.

Okal’s wife has traveled with her children to the crossing at Rafah three times since the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem first advised Americans to do so as a first step to evacuation from the Gaza Strip. On two of those occasions, the crossing was bombed in an Israeli airstrike. 

“We’re losing hope,” Okal said. 

Hundreds of other people holding foreign passports have made repeated visits to the Rafah crossing, hoping to escape Israeli air strikes that have killed more than 3,000 people and a siege that has left Gaza without fresh supplies of electricity, drinking water, and fuel.

On Wednesday, Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would lift its blockade and let hundreds of tons of food, water, and medical supplies into Gaza through the Rafah border post. But the fate of the Americans in Gaza was not mentioned, and Egypt has yet to agree to let them in.

It was unclear when aid shipments would begin crossing into Gaza — as evening fell Wednesday, CNN Arabic reported explosions near the crossing — or when an arrangement might be reached for the foreigners trapped in the war zone.

The State Department did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday. 

Last week, a State Department spokesperson told The Messenger that it has "no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas" and that they "continue to closely monitor the dynamic security situation and have a team communicating 24/7 with U.S. citizens (in Gaza) and providing them assistance through phone calls and the online form."

Also last week, advocacy groups in the Detroit area sued the federal government on behalf of a Palestinian-American family “currently trapped abroad in the Gaza Strip in an active war zone where they are under imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury."

The suit asked a judge to force Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin "to evacuate U.S. citizens from Gaza and return them safely to the United States or another nation outside of the war zone in the most expeditious manner available" and to "declare the Defendants’ inaction in failing to evacuate U.S. citizens from Gaza as arbitrary and capricious and violative of the statutory and constitutional provisions set forth herein."

"Right now, they're not in any form or shape of a safe area. They're still there," Yahya Alarayshi, who brought the suit on behalf of his parents in Gaza, said at a news conference Tuesday. "We're just hoping the best for them, and they come home safely."