The author of this article is anonymous for reasons of safety.
GAZA CITY—An American teenager has told The Daily Beast that his younger sister was killed by an airstrike in Gaza.
The family says Joud Abedalazeez Abushaban, 14, died on Wednesday, after they went back home to Gaza City after several days waiting near the closed Rafah border crossing where they were trying to escape the country.
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Her brother, Yousof Abedalazeez Abushaban, who was born in Michigan, was also injured by the blast. “Upon returning to Gaza for a brief respite—after about six days—and preparing to head back to Rafah, a neighboring house was struck by a bomb,” he told The Daily Beast. “I lost my sister in the strike and I suffered injuries from flying shrapnel, leaving me with a severe laceration on my hand.”
The Rafah crossing into Egypt has been closed since Israeli airstrikes targeted the area soon after the deadly Hamas incursion into Israel on Oct. 7. Yousof is the only member of the family with an American passport after he was born in the U.S. in 2005, while his father was working in the Midwest. The family has been pleading with U.S. officials to help all of them leave the Gaza Strip where Israel has dropped thousands of bombs in the days since Hamas massacred more than 1400 people.
Abedalazeez Abu Shaban, their father who is blind, called on the international community to stop the bombing. “Joud is just a child—why did they killed her? Why didn’t they warn the building so we could save her and evacuate the house? The Israeli army is criminal and it keeps killing our children in cold blood,” he told The Daily Beast.
”I only wish to demand from the world that they protect my family.”
A U.S. State Department spokesperson told The Daily Beast: “Out of respect for the family during this difficult time, we have nothing further to share.”
Yousof, who was being treated at Shifaa hospital in Gaza City, said the conditions in the south of the Gaza Strip where Israel has told civilians to seek shelter from the bombing were terrible. Airstrikes have also continued in the supposedly safe zones. “I've ventured to the border crossing four times since the war began, enduring the perilous journey from Gaza. I found myself reluctantly seeking refuge in UNRWA schools ill-equipped to accommodate the displaced, where 1500 refugees are forced to share the same bathroom,” he said.
Yousof is one of an estimated 600-700 U.S. citizens trapped in the Gaza Strip who are expected to be allowed out under any deal to reopen the Rafah crossing.
Among them is a family who had gathered in Gaza for a dream wedding.
It’s turned into a nightmare.
Members of this American family who have lived all over the world—from California to Turkey—came together in Gaza to celebrate the marriage of Zahwa Shaath, 26, who was looking forward to a traditional Palestinian wedding.
The ceremony has been canceled and the wedding dresses abandoned as the family tried to flee from the bombing.
“I left without taking any of the wedding clothes. I left three large suitcases containing new clothes, perfumes, and makeup, which are part of our traditional bridal outfits. I only left with the clothes I was wearing,” Zahwa told The Daily Beast.
“My husband came from Turkey for the first time in five years to the Gaza Strip to complete the marriage ceremony between family and friends, then we were to return to Turkey to settle there where he works in his own private company, but the closure of the crossing left us stranded without a present or future.”
Ruaa, 9, and Adel, 4, the grandkids of Adel Al-Qadoumi.
HandoutZahwa’s younger sister Zeina explained that the family had been getting ready for the wedding for ages: “We spent months preparing wedding dresses for my mother and me, and now we have left everything behind in the hope of reaching the crossing.”
If she is allowed out through the Rafah crossing, Zeina hopes to reach the United States to stay with her uncle. “We want to get out of Gaza and start a new and safe life,” she said.
The father of the bride, Saeed Shaath, 64, is a Californian who says he has become a representative of Americans in Gaza over the years. He moved to the Gaza Strip about 25 years ago, after living and working in the United States for decades.
“I represent the American community in Gaza, and I see that there are many American facilities for the evacuation of American-Israeli citizens during this war, while it cannot do anything to evacuate Palestinian American citizens in the Gaza Strip,” he told The Daily Beast.
“There are more than 700 American citizens stranded in the Gaza Strip. All of these families went to the Rafah crossing, but the crossing was bombed and closed, and until now we are still in the city of Rafah waiting for the crossing to open.”
For those seeking shelter near the border crossing, Shaath said conditions continue to worsen as Israel enforces a blockade and shuts off electricity. The makeshift refugee shelters like the The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) schools and hospital compounds are overcrowded and lacking in basic facilities including water, while he says Rafah’s city center is rapidly running out of food and clothing while prices are increasing for the few provisions that are left. “We fear for the coming days. How long will the crossings remain closed? Everything will run out and it will turn into famine,” he said.
The Egyptian authorities have stipulated that aid to Gaza must be allowed through the Rafah crossing before any facilitation of the exit of dual nationals from Gaza. They also required Israeli approval of a humanitarian truce for several hours before the entry of any nationals.
A State Department spokesperson said: “The armed conflict between Israel and Hamas is ongoing, making identifying departure options for U.S. citizens complex. The U.S. government is making every effort to persuade responsible parties to open the Rafah crossing.”
Ismail Abu Shaaban, 54, an American citizen who used to work in Houston, has abandoned his house in West Gaza in search of shelter from the bombing with his four daughters, two of whom are at school and two at university.
“I can’t believe that the U.S. government couldn’t pressure Israel to allow evacuating 700 American individuals who need only one hour of operational work at the crossing? Our administration supports Israel with billions of dollars. How come it can’t pressure them for a humanitarian corridor?”
Ismail Abu Shaaban with two sons, Ibraheem, 13, and Husam Eldin, 16.
HandoutNot every American citizen is trying to get out. Adel Al-Qadoumi, 62, says he will stay to continue his work for an organization that provides aid to refugees and those impacted by war in Gaza even though he is concerned for the health of his family, including his grandkids, Ruaa and Adel (pictured).
“Even as humanitarian worker we can’t move in Gaza and north Gaza for fear of being bombed,” he told The Daily Beast. “We have aid in the stores but can’t go to distribute it to refugees in UNRWA schools.“
Al-Qadoumi criticized President Joe Biden’s recent visit to Israel where he supported the Israeli government. “Biden is a liar. He is using the money of American citizens to support Israeli crimes, he could use this money to support the peace process. He is supporting the cleansing against Palestinians,” he said.
He said conditions would get worse and worse if the Israeli blockade continues: “People here will die either of thirst, diseases that will spread among refugees, or of hunger due to lack of food and poverty.”
