Medway family still stuck trying to leave Gaza: ‘particularly distressing'

A Palestinian-American family from Medway, Massachusetts, is still trying to find a way out of Gaza.

Abood Okal and Wafaa Abuzayda were visiting family with their 1-year-old son, Yousef, when Hamas launched a surprise attack in Israel. As Israel responded with retaliatory airstrikes, they could hear the bombings happening around them.

According to family friend Sammy Nabulsi, they went to the Rafah border to cross into Egypt as they were advised that they had a five hour window of time for American citizens to cross safely.

Time came and went and they saw no movement.

The family has not received any updates on a departure option for them or any other American citizens in Gaza.

"What is particularly distressing is that Abood tells me that there were bombardments by the Israelis south of where they are in Rafah. If the United States is not going to get its citizens out of there, then it needs to at least demand of the Israelis that there be no bombardment in this area, especially in view of the fact that they are likely using US weapons to do this. No American should be OK with this," Nabulsi said.

"This is becoming dangerous for all American citizens in Gaza, and, given how close the smoke is in the photograph that Abood just sent me, particularly dangerous for this family," they added.

Thursday, the Israeli army ordered more than 1 million people in northern Gaza to evacuate their homes within 24 hours and move south amid growing concerns of a ground offensive.

The State Department announced that starting Friday, the U.S. government will arrange charter flights for U.S. citizens and their immediate family members who have been unable to book commercial flights out of Israel.

In a security alert published Friday, the U.S. Embassy in Israel wrote, "The military conflict between Israel and Hamas is ongoing, making departure options for U.S. citizens complex. We are working on potential options for departure from Gaza for U.S. citizens.

"Senator Warren's office is actively coordinating with the State Department to help American citizens in Israel and Gaza, including Massachusetts residents, safely return to the United States," her press secretary wrote in an email.

"Senator Markey is deeply concerned about the safety of innocent civilians in Israel and Gaza, including American citizens and Massachusetts residents who have been unable to return home," wrote a spokesperson for Markey. "The Senator will continue to do everything in his power to advocate for and support these families."

"Our office is actively supporting Massachusetts constituents in the region seeking to leave Israel and Gaza," added a spokesperson for Rep. Ayanna Pressley. "We are in touch with the family directly and have reached out to the State Department and White House about their case."

"There's a community here, and we are hyper-focused on bringing this Medway family back to Medway, but I do want to keep in our mindset, my understanding is there are 500 to 600 American citizens in Gaza right now, and this ask of the federal government is, frankly, for all of them," said Nabulsi.

Abood Okal — who is sheltering in a rural area about 10 miles away from the Egyptian border with his wife, 18-month-old son, and his sister and her three young children from New Jersey — said in a text message to the Boston Globe early Sunday afternoon that they were all "exhausted and sleep-deprived."

However, he said, "there is no room for being burnt out; we're kicking in survival mode as we have to ensure we have sufficient supply of drinking water and food, since most markets are either closed or nearly out of essential items."