Massachusetts Family and New Jersey Relatives, Previously Trapped In Gaza, Now Safe In Egypt: Lawyer

A Massachusetts family and their relatives from New Jersey who had been trapped in Gaza since war broke out in early October have successfully evacuated into Egypt, joining the many Americans who have been able to leave the besieged area this week.

Abood Okal, his wife Wafaa Abuzayda and their 1-year-old baby, Yousef, passed through the Rafah Crossing on Thursday and are now resting safely in Cairo, Sammy Nebulsi, an attorney for the family, told The Messenger. 

Okal and his family crossed over around 5:30am ET on Thursday and were escorted by U.S Consular Affairs office to a hotel near the embassy, Nebulsi said. 

“The Okal Family is overwhelmed with the love and support they have received from home and abroad, but they are also exhausted, physically and emotionally drained, and have a long journey ahead of them back to the United States,” Nebulsi said. 

“The Okal Family expresses its deepest gratitude to their family and friends around the world, the Medway community, the media for sharing their plight and the plight of the hundreds of other Americans trapped in Gaza, their elected officials who fought hard for their return, and the State Department for providing them with safe departure." 

Okal, a research director for a pharmaceutical company from Medway, about 40 miles southwest of Boston, traveled to Gaza last month with his wife and son to visit family but became trapped for almost a month as violence broke out. 

More than 100 U.S. citizens and and family members departed Gaza on Thursday, the White House said, and another "large group of Americans" is expected to depart Friday as the Israel-Hamas war continues.

Nebulsi said the Okal's slept on a bed for the first time in weeks and only took a break from resting to take their son to a play area in the hotel so he could be a regular kid again, he said. 

They had been sheltering in an apartment with 40 other people and sleeping on the floor with one sheet to cover them.

Nebulsi said they haven’t made travel plans back to Massachusetts yet as they are hoping Abuzayda’s parents can go back with them. They are not U.S citizens but their home was in the Jabaliya refugee camp neighborhood, which was bombed by Israel on Tuesday decimating the area, he said.

Other members of the extended family, U.S citizen Haneen Okal and her three kids, Iyab, 8, Nadine, 2, and Elias, 2 months, were also on the same bus that crossed into Egypt, Nebulsi said. 

Haneen Okal had been separated from her husband Abdulla who is in Union County, New Jersey, was desperately trying to evacuate and had gone to the Rafah crossing three times with her kids, surviving two bombings in the process. 

After giving birth in Gaza due to a medical emergency, Haneen was stuck since August because her newborn’s passport was delayed by the U.S Embassy. Her husband eventually had to return to their home in New Jersey for work — leaving Okal and the children in Gaza.

Nebulsi said the U.S Consulate was able to get her baby an emergency passport so he could evacuate with them. 

Under a deal brokered by Qatar, foreign passport holders are being allowed out of the Gaza Strip into Egypt amid an ongoing bloody war. 

While the Okal family is happy to be safe, they continue to plead for the "immediate and safe departure of the remaining American citizens and their families in Gaza," Nebulsi said. "And compassion and prayers for the innocent civilians in Gaza, who gave them shelter, who helped them find food and water, but who continue to be without their own supply of food, water, fuel, or medicine to live."