Americans stuck in Gaza fear certain death if not evacuated

American citizens in Gaza and their families in the United States have approached courts following weeks of unsuccessful attempts to leave the besieged enclave.

The area has faced relentless Israeli bombardment in which more than 9,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed since Hamas's October 7 attack on Israeli towns and military bases.

The Arab American Civil Rights League reports that approximately twelve lawsuits have been filed or are in the process of being submitted against the US State Department in the US courts.

Ghassan Shamieh is among the lawyers and has filed lawsuits in California, Texas and Michigan.

He says the aim is to get the State Department to issue an evacuation order and safely evacuate all American citizens trapped in Gaza, just like all Israeli Americans were evacuated safely from Israel.

The State Department has previously deployed its military including naval vessels and helicopters for the evacuation of US citizens from similar situations such as when the Taliban took over in Afghanistan in 2021.

Similarly, Americans in Israel were provided with chartered flights and a Royal Caribbean cruise ship to evacuate.

But US citizens in Gaza were repeatedly told to go to the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt and wait for evacuations there. Rafah is jointly operated by Palestine's Hamas and Egypt, but Israel also determines who enters and exits, including the medical and food supplies.

“For those trapped in Gaza, the inaction on the part of the US government in not assisting them is effectively a death sentence,” Shamieh says in the lawsuit, a copy of which was seen by TRT World.

Shamieh is representing two women, both above 80 years old, who have 10 grandchildren each.

“We miss our grandmother, and all we want is for her to come home safely,” says Asher Rous, a Bay Area resident, grandson of one of the women stranded in Gaza.

“We are looking to our government to make that happen because there’s nobody else (who can do it) except them.”

Family of Ramiz Younis, who lives in Little Rock, Arkansas, is also trapped in Gaza. Younis, who has also filed a federal lawsuit against US officials, is a US citizen, as are his two children, including a 9-month-old baby. His wife, Falla Saqer, is a green card holder.

Saqer and their children were visiting family in Gaza when hostilities broke out, and Israel announced a ‘siege’ of Gaza. Israel has now launched a ground offensive, which threatens to escalate the crisis.

“My wife attempted six times to cross via the Rafah crossing but failed,” Younis said in a video published on Instagram.

Falla, Zain, and Zaina attempted to flee Gaza through the Rafah border crossing, but were turned away several times by the Egyptian authorities, according to another lawsuit seen by TRT World.

Falla’s passport was stamped but she along with her children were denied exit from Gaza. She also had to abandon several personal items such as luggage and a baby stroller at the border.

“Same day when events escalated in Gaza, I asked my wife to take our kids from Gaza city for Rafah city (in Gaza) and stay at my sister's house so that she can be as close as possible to Rafah crossing while waiting for the crossing to open,” Younis says.

“She tried going with the kids twice on her own and on the second try her passport and the kids passports were stamped exit from the Palestinian side.

While waiting at the crossing to board the bus for the Egyptian side, parts of the crossing were bombed and everyone was asked to leave. She left with the kids and left her belongings behind.”

On Wednesday, more than 400 foreign passport holders and injured Palestinians from Gaza were allowed to pass through the Rafah crossing for the first time since Israeli air strikes began.

It includes "a number of American citizens", according to the US state department, adding that exits will "continue over the next several days".

On 14 October, Younis received an email from the State Department, after he provided his family’s information, with instructions that the crossing would open for five hours the next day. Falla has made at least five trips to the border along with her children but none were successful.

Justin Eisele, an attorney representing Younis, and other lawyers initiating the legal actions against the US state department say that the lawsuits are grounded in the equal protection clause of the constitution “and assert that their clients experienced unequal treatment in the repatriation process when contrasted with the efforts made to evacuate US citizens in Israel”.

The US State Department did not reply to TRT World’s request for a comment on why they have not evacuated its citizens trapped in Gaza when Americans in Israel were promptly evacuated as soon as the war began.

“Our family is disappointed that the US Government has left one of our own family members stranded in Gaza despite the fact that she is a US Citizen,” said Dina Bseiso, a Bay Area resident whose family member is a plaintiff in the litigation and stranded in Gaza.

“When we are lucky enough to get her on the phone, she tells us how scared she is that by the time she is evacuated it'll be too late for her. We are demanding that the US government help bring her home."