Concern for civilians in war zone

Markey cites Mass. residents among those in peril

Senator Ed Markey reiterated Friday that he is “deeply concerned” about civilians, including Massachusetts residents, trapped amid the fighting between Hamas and Israel and vowed to help them return safely from the region, which has been engulfed in deadly violence since Hamas’s massacre of more than 1,300 Israelis Saturday.

“I am deeply concerned about the safety of innocent civilians in Israel and Gaza, including Massachusetts residents who have been unable to return home,” Markey wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “I will do everything in my power to support their safe return.”

Markey included a link to a Boston Globe article that ran Thursday about a Medway family who had traveled to visit relatives in the Gaza Strip and is now stuck in a war zone with no supplies as Israeli forces pummel the territory with airstrikes, which have killed more than 1,500 people.

Wafaa Abuzayda and Abood Okal brought their 1½-year-old son, Yousef, to visit family in the West Bank and Gaza and were scheduled to return to Massachusetts on Friday. She said they have been trying to escape since the violence broke out but have made no progress.

“Our short trip just turned into a nightmare,” Abuzayda said in a phone interview Thursday.

The bombings have been continuous, she said, pulverizing the buildings and infrastructure that surrounds them.

“If anyone tells you there’s a safe place in Gaza, [there’s] nothing,” she said. “I’m not safe right now. I’m expecting to be dead in any

minute.”

All the stores are shut, people remain in shelters or inside their homes, and the bombings last all day and night, she said.

“You [don’t] see people, because everyone is hiding,” she said.

A neighbor who still has electricity has been allowing them to charge their cellphones so they can stay in touch with friends and family in the US, Abuzayda said.

It’s unclear exactly how many American citizens are in Gaza, where supplies, fuel, and electricity have been cut off. The Wall Street Journal reported that an estimated 500 to 600 US citizens live in the Gaza Strip. The State Department said it was unable to provide a number.

Israel has said nothing will be allowed into Gaza until Hamas frees some 150 hostages taken during their deadly incursion on Saturday. Supplies are also blocked from entering the Gaza Strip through Egypt.

“Not a single electricity switch will be flipped on, not a single faucet will be turned on, and not a single fuel truck will enter until the Israeli hostages are returned home,” Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz said on social media.

The conditions in Gaza have led international aid groups to declare it a humanitarian crisis. Abuzayda said they have no food or clean water and no diapers for Yousef. He typically drinks a full bottle of milk, but now they are giving him only a half-bottle at a time, she said.

Sammy Nabulsi, a Boston lawyer close with Abuzayda and Okal, said in a phone interview Friday afternoon that he had received word that the couple had made it to the southern city of Rafah on the border with Egypt.

But the couple was “unaware of any departure options for them, through Egypt or otherwise,” he said.

Nabulsi said he had seen reporting that the US has chartered flights for Americans to leave Israel for Europe, and that he hopes the same consideration will be shown for Americans trapped in Gaza.

“My hope continues to be that our policy is that an American is an American is an American,” Nabulsi said. “It shouldn’t matter which side of the wall they’re on. I think time is of the essence for this family.”

Nabulsi said he hopes authorities carve out a “safety corridor for this family and the other 500 to 600 Americans who are stuck” in the war zone.

Palestinians began a mass exodus from northern Gaza Friday after Israel’s military told some 1 million people to evacuate toward the southern part of the besieged territory, an unprecedented order ahead of an expected ground invasion against the ruling Hamas militant group.

The Gaza Health Ministry said Friday roughly 1,800 people have been killed in the territory — more than half of them under the age of 18, or women. Hamas’ assault last Saturday killed more than 1,300 Israelis, most of whom were civilians, and roughly 1,500 Hamas militants were killed during the fighting, the Israeli government said.