Gaza, one of the world’s most densely inhabited areas with 2.3 million residents, is currently under siege. There is a shortage of clean water, food, and fuel, and the energy supply hasn’t been steady in days. The Israeli army has ordered residents in the north to move south as bombs continue to fall.
Israel has shut two border crossing points. Additionally, the Rafah crossing, which is located on Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, is closed.
There is no escape.
According to the State Department, there are still 600 Americans in Gaza.
Among them was Haneen Okal, a Palestinian-American from New Jersey who told NBC News on Saturday that she had spent the whole weekend at the bridge after receiving a warning from American officials to remain nearby.
The State Department earlier issued a warning stating that “there may be very little notice if the crossing opens and it may only open for a limited time.”
During the weekend, Okal stated that she was “waiting for it to open so we can get out of here.” She stated that she was concerned that because her newborn baby Elias doesn’t yet have a passport, officials wouldn’t let her through with him. She claimed that before to the start of the war, she had made appointments in Tel Aviv to apply for passports.
‘Unstable’ border crossing already
Since 2007, a military blockade has prevented any unrestricted travel to or from the Gaza Strip.
Civilians can enter and exit Gaza through two main crossings: Erez, which is located on Gaza’s northern border with Israel, and Rafah, which is located in northeast Egypt close to the Sinai Peninsula. Over the years, both have experienced numerous and protracted shutdown.
Kerem Shalom, a third crossing into Israel close to Rafah, serves as both a commercial hub and the only route for cargo entering Gaza.
A Palestinian-American citizen named Mai Abushaban told NBC News on Friday that she has been across the Rafah border ten times and that, even in ideal conditions, it wasn’t as easy as it might seem.
“It’s not like the border between the United States and Mexico,” she remarked. “It’s ineffective, unreliable, hazardous, and unstable.”
Following negotiations with the Palestinian leadership, including both Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, and Fatah, its more secular and moderate competitor, which oversees the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, Egypt permanently opened the Rafah crossing in 2021.
But last week, it was closed.
Palestinian authorities have refuted the allegation made by Egyptian officials that the border was never shut down. Israeli attacks on Gaza also physically damaged the crossing itself.
According to H.A. Hellyer, a senior associate fellow specializing in security and geopolitics at the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank based in London, the border to Egypt likely stayed closed due to worries about a major migration of distressed refugees from Gaza. He asserted that based on historical experience, Palestinian refugees who escape are unlikely to be allowed to return.
It is absolutely understandable, according to Hellyer, “which is why the Egyptians and many of the neighboring states are very hesitant to say, ‘Yeah, sure, we’ll take them in.'” “Because they are aware that they can never go back,”
Given that Israel has authority over other crossings, Hellyer said it is certainly reasonable to inquire as to why Rafah is still shut down.
In response to that attack, “I don’t hear here at the same volume calls for Israel to open up its own border crossings to receive Palestinian civilians who have no connection to Hamas,” said Hellyer. And there ought to be.
A difficult deal
A global agreement and Hamas’s assistance are required for safe exit from Gaza.
According to American officials, they are collaborating with Egypt, Israel, and Qatari partners to restore the border temporarily. According to a U.S. source who spoke to NBC News, Egyptian officials have also expressed concern that any agreement should include an assurance that humanitarian aid will reach Gaza.
However, there is no assurance that Hamas, which pushed Palestinians to stay in Gaza, will open their side of the crossing, according to three US sources familiar with the situation who spoke to NBC News.
Upon his arrival in Cairo on Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken informed the media that one of his major priorities is to “address the humanitarian crisis that exists in Gaza.” He affirmed Israel’s “right to defend itself” while simultaneously emphasizing the value of protecting innocent life.
The manner in which Israel handles this matters, Blinken remarked, echoing remarks made by President Biden and myself in Tel Aviv. Taking all reasonable precautions to prevent harm to civilians, “[Israel] needs to do it in a way that affirms the shared values that we have for human life and human dignity.”
As panic grows,
As Gaza is being pounded by strikes, the Kaoud family in Riverside, California, waits with bated breath for any sign that their 12 relatives stranded there will be able to return home in safety.
According to Hala Kaoud, her father Nezam contacted and requested “whatever we can do to help them.”
Hala reported, “He said it’s really risky to go outside.” The bombs, he claimed, aren’t stopping. He instructed me to inform you that our family is still stranded with children in northern Gaza. He is pleading for aid.
Along with his four brothers, Hesham, Jamal, Mohammad, Esam, and Esam’s son, Ameer, Nezam Kaoud is also present.
Shamiss Kaoud, Jamal Kaoud’s daughter, said her father and uncles were scheduled to return on a month-long visit on October 21, but as the war broke out last week, the family frantically started contacting the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.
The American Embassy in Jerusalem has announced that American Americans living in Israel will be given access to a boat leaving Haifa on Monday morning. Israel’s northwest coast is where Haifa is situated, but Gazans have no way of traveling there.
Helal Kaoud, the daughter of Esam Kaoud, told NBC News that her cousin Sarah El Najjar is currently imprisoned in northern Gaza with her husband and four children, the youngest of whom is only two years old. Unfortunately, the area is under heavy bombing and shelling, making any attempt at escape dangerous.
Helal Kaoud claims that the Embassy encouraged Sarah to travel south, but the message effectively said that she was on her own to make the journey safely and that no additional help would be given. Sarah and her family are stranded due to the hazardous weather, with no practical means of escape.
Jamal Kaoud, a family member who has a pacemaker and defibrillator due to a heart problem, is in a desperate need of life-saving medication, which makes the already bad situation even worse.
According to Shamiss Kaoud, none of the family members in Gaza were informed of the alert on Saturday regarding the opening of the Rafah gate; instead, it was relatives in the United States who informed them of the situation.
The brothers Kaoud traveled to Rafah on their own but were refused entry.
In essence, according to Shamiss Kaoud, “the United States is refusing to assist its nationals who are stranded in the Gaza Strip, but they are eager to assist any and all Americans departing from Israel.