Americans remain stuck in Gaza as U.S. evacuation deal falters
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News Article :-
Before dawn on Saturday, Abood Okal and his family received the news they had desperately been waiting for. Okal and his wife and their 1-year-old son were finally offered a possible way out of Gaza — and back to their home near Boston.
An email from the U.S. State Department told them the sole border crossing with Egypt “may be open” for a five-hour window later that day, from noon to 5 p.m.
“If you wish to leave Gaza you may want to take advantage of this opportunity,” the message said.
On Saturday morning, Okal and his family went to the Rafah crossing only to find it closed. There were no officials on the Palestinian side of the crossing except for a few plainclothes security guards whose job was to keep people from getting too close to the gate, Okal said.
The U.S. government had negotiated a deal to allow American citizens to leave Gaza and cross into Egypt during the five-hour window, U.S. officials said Saturday. But Palestinian and Egyptian officials failed to communicate about opening it, an official at the border said. By the end of the day, no one had been able to cross.
Wael Abu Omar, the Palestinian spokesman for the Rafah crossing, said Palestinian officials had not had any communication with their counterparts on the Egyptian side. Egyptian media outlets reported that Cairo would only allow foreigners to cross the border if aid shipments could be delivered to Gaza.
Israel, meanwhile, has said it would strike any trucks coming across the border, especially trucks carrying fuel, according to a diplomatic official who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss sensitive negotiations.
Officials are discussing the possibility of setting up a screening mechanism that would allow the Israelis to inspect goods in each vehicle entering Gaza, the diplomat said. Another official familiar with the talks over the aid deliveries said any agreement would require “Israel to stop bombing the enclave for a few hours.”
The confusion and uncertainty surrounding the Rafah crossing comes as hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes in northern Gaza in response to an evacuation order from Israel’s military, ahead of a possible ground invasion into the besieged enclave.
An estimated 500 to 600 Palestinian Americans like the Okal family are in Gaza. With no way out, families have pleaded for help from U.S. officials.
In a statement, a State Department spokesperson said the U.S. government is working to secure the safe exit of U.S. citizens from Gaza.
“We have informed U.S. citizens in Gaza with whom we are in contact that if they assess it to be safe, they may wish to move closer to the Rafah border crossing,” the spokesperson said, adding that “there may be very little notice if the crossing opens and it may only open for a limited time.”
President Biden, in a call Saturday with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
News Article :-
Before dawn on Saturday, Abood Okal and his family received the news they had desperately been waiting for. Okal and his wife and their 1-year-old son were finally offered a possible way out of Gaza — and back to their home near Boston.
An email from the U.S. State Department told them the sole border crossing with Egypt “may be open” for a five-hour window later that day, from noon to 5 p.m.
“If you wish to leave Gaza you may want to take advantage of this opportunity,” the message said.
On Saturday morning, Okal and his family went to the Rafah crossing only to find it closed. There were no officials on the Palestinian side of the crossing except for a few plainclothes security guards whose job was to keep people from getting too close to the gate, Okal said.
The U.S. government had negotiated a deal to allow American citizens to leave Gaza and cross into Egypt during the five-hour window, U.S. officials said Saturday. But Palestinian and Egyptian officials failed to communicate about opening it, an official at the border said. By the end of the day, no one had been able to cross.
Wael Abu Omar, the Palestinian spokesman for the Rafah crossing, said Palestinian officials had not had any communication with their counterparts on the Egyptian side. Egyptian media outlets reported that Cairo would only allow foreigners to cross the border if aid shipments could be delivered to Gaza.
Israel, meanwhile, has said it would strike any trucks coming across the border, especially trucks carrying fuel, according to a diplomatic official who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss sensitive negotiations.
Officials are discussing the possibility of setting up a screening mechanism that would allow the Israelis to inspect goods in each vehicle entering Gaza, the diplomat said. Another official familiar with the talks over the aid deliveries said any agreement would require “Israel to stop bombing the enclave for a few hours.”
The confusion and uncertainty surrounding the Rafah crossing comes as hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes in northern Gaza in response to an evacuation order from Israel’s military, ahead of a possible ground invasion into the besieged enclave.
An estimated 500 to 600 Palestinian Americans like the Okal family are in Gaza. With no way out, families have pleaded for help from U.S. officials.
In a statement, a State Department spokesperson said the U.S. government is working to secure the safe exit of U.S. citizens from Gaza.
“We have informed U.S. citizens in Gaza with whom we are in contact that if they assess it to be safe, they may wish to move closer to the Rafah border crossing,” the spokesperson said, adding that “there may be very little notice if the crossing opens and it may only open for a limited time.”
President Biden, in a call Saturday with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
Transcript
00:00 Before dawn on Saturday, Abu'd Oakland his family received the news they had desperately
00:05 been waiting for.
00:06 Oakland his wife and their one-year-old son were finally offered a possible way out of
00:11 Gaza and back to their home near Boston.
00:14 An email from the US State Department told them the sole border crossing with Egypt may
00:19 be open for a five-hour window later that day, from noon to 5pm.
00:24 "If you wish to leave Gaza you may want to take advantage of this opportunity," the message
00:29 said.
00:30 On Saturday morning, Oakland his family went to the Rafah crossing only to find it closed.
00:36 There were no officials on the Palestinian side of the crossing except for a few plain
00:40 clothes security guards whose job was to keep people from getting too close to the gate,
00:45 Ocal said.
00:46 The US government had negotiated a deal to allow American citizens to leave Gaza and
00:51 cross into Egypt during the five-hour window, US officials said Saturday.
00:57 But Palestinian and Egyptian officials failed to communicate about opening it, an official
01:02 at the border said.
01:03 By the end of the day, no one had been able to cross.
01:07 While Abu Omar, the Palestinian spokesman for the Rafah crossing, said Palestinian officials
01:13 had not had any communication with their counterparts on the Egyptian side.
01:18 Egyptian media outlets reported that Cairo would only allow foreigners to cross the border
01:22 if aid shipments could be delivered to Gaza.
01:25 Israel, meanwhile, has said it would strike any trucks coming across the border, especially
01:31 trucks carrying fuel, according to a diplomatic official who, like others, spoke on the condition
01:37 of anonymity because the official was not authorised to discuss sensitive negotiations.
01:44 Officials are discussing the possibility of setting up a screening mechanism that would
01:48 allow the Israelis to inspect goods in each vehicle entering Gaza, the diplomat said.
01:54 Another official familiar with the talks over the aid delivery said any agreement would
01:58 require Israel to stop bombing the enclave for a few hours.
02:02 The confusion and uncertainty surrounding the Rafah crossing comes as hundreds of thousands
02:08 of people have fled their homes in northern Gaza in response to an evacuation order from
02:13 Israel's military, ahead of a possible ground invasion into the besieged enclave.
02:18 An estimated 500 to 600 Palestinian Americans like the Ocal family are in Gaza.
02:25 With no way out, families have pleaded for help from US officials.
02:29 In a statement, a State Department spokesperson said the US government is working to secure
02:34 the safe exit of US citizens from Gaza.
02:37 "We have informed US citizens in Gaza with whom we are in contact that if they assess
02:43 it to be safe, they may wish to move closer to the Rafah border crossing," the spokesperson
02:49 said, adding that there may be "very little notice" if the crossing opens and it may only
02:54 open for a limited time.
02:56 President Biden, in a call Saturday with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, discussed
03:02 coordination with the United Nations, Egypt, Jordan, Israel and others in the region to
03:08 ensure innocent civilians have access to water, food, and medical care, according to a readout
03:14 from the call.
03:15 US officials have spent the past several days trying to evacuate all US staff in Gaza, a
03:22 group of about 15 Palestinians that includes three US government employees who work for
03:28 US aid in Gaza, along with their immediate family members, according to a diplomatic
03:33 official familiar with the situation.
03:36 Each time, they've been stopped at checkpoints near the border inside Gaza and have been
03:41 unable to leave.
03:42 In some cases at these checkpoints, the diplomatic official said, people identifying themselves
03:48 as Hamas have said none of them will be able to leave until aid trucks enter the Gaza Strip.
03:54 Canadian officials also told citizens on Friday that the Rafah crossing might open Saturday
03:59 for a five-hour window to allow Canadians to exit.
04:03 Foreign Minister Emma Tilda copyright Laney Jolie told reporters Saturday that the latest
04:09 information she had was that violence in the area forced authorities to cancel the operation.
04:15 She did not elaborate.
04:16 On Friday, Oakland his extended family had rushed south from Jabliya in the north of
04:21 Gaza after the Israeli army ordered more than one million people to evacuate.
04:26 They scrambled frantically to find cars to fit them all and a place to stay near the
04:30 crossing.
04:31 Joseph Ockel, 36, and his family spent hours waiting under the hot sun Saturday.
04:37 He said there were several hundred people there, including another American family from
04:42 New Jersey.
04:43 He said there were other foreign nationals too, including Canadians, Swedes, Spaniards
04:48 and Norwegians.
04:50 As the day dragged on, his wife, Wafaa Abuzda, took their exhausted toddler, Yousef, back
04:56 to the home where they are staying with 30 other people, a short drive away.
05:01 Road vendors near the crossing warned Ockel that it was not safe to stay once the sun
05:05 set.
05:06 Still, he remained there until nearly 6pm, he said, hoping something might change.
05:13 When he began to hear the sound of fighter planes and drones, he knew he had to leave