"In the first few days of the war between Israel and Hamas, Wafaa Abuzayda, an American and a mother, made a plea from the Gaza Strip on this program to the U.S. government.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
WAFAA ABUZAYDA: Please, please save us. Please. I have a 1 1/2 year. I got him after six times of IVF. Please, save us. Please.
FADEL: Today, more than two weeks into this war, the Massachusetts resident is still trapped inside the besieged Palestinian enclave with her baby, Yousef Okal, and her husband, Abood Okal. They are among an estimated 1,700 people with European and U.S. citizenships trapped in the Gaza Strip, along with more than 2.3 million Palestinians who don't hold foreign passports, living under constant Israeli bombardment with no way to escape. They're running out of food and clean water. Over the last two weeks, they've updated us on their efforts to try to get out."
~ Leila Fadel
"President Biden traveled to Israel, gave a speech, came back, gave a primetime speech the very next day asking for more aid, and not in any of those meetings or in any of those speeches did the issue of American citizens in Gaza come up. This family feels completely abandoned. I'm shocked that not only are they not home, but as of today, the United States still doesn't even have a departure option or a timeline for any of them to get out safely."
~ Leila Fadel
No comments:
Post a Comment