A Massachusetts family, including a 1-year-old boy, remains stuck in Gaza as it tries to flee the violence.
For a second straight day Monday, Medway residents Abood Okal and Wafaa Abuzayda went with their infant son, Yousef, to the Rafah crossing into Egypt. There, the Palestinian-American family — in Gaza visiting family — faced another round of disappointment.
"I've just completely lost all faith in the United States' ability to bring these American citizens back home, and I'm just freaking out for all of them," family friend Sammy Nabulsi said Monday.
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The family waited at the crossing for hours with crowds of others desperate to get out. Nabulsi said they received word that the border would be open for American citizens to cross Monday, but that did not occur.
"Not a single American citizen was permitted to cross today into Egypt," he said. "It's the second time this week they've gone to the crossing and just sat around for nothing to happen."
The State Department estimates there are 600 Americans still stuck in Gaza as Israel prepares for a ground offensive after last week's surprise attack by Hamas militants on Israel.
"It's not even just a security threat for these American families, their own health is at issue," Nabulsi said. "They're not getting sufficient water supply, not getting any food supply, they don't have access to fuel to move around."
He says he's fearing the worst, worrying with each passing day that the situation could grow more dire.
"It's not about anything other than the possibility that this family, their 1-year-old, the other 500-600 American citizens, might die — either because of violence or because of hunger or because of dehydration," Nabulsi said. "That's what I'm worried about."
Rep. Seth Moulton says he's heading back to Washington Tuesday and expects to get classified briefings and find out why the U.S. citizens were not allowed to cross.
"The bottom line is very clear. These are American families, they deserve to be home in America, and they're not safe until they get here, so we're going to do everything in our power to make sure that happens," Moulton said.
