Massachusetts family with 1-year-old pleads US for help as they try to escape Gaza

A Palestinian-American family from Medway, Massachusetts, is among those fleeing northern Gaza.

Abood Okal and Wafaa Abuzayda were visiting family with their 1-year-old son, Yousef, when Hamas launched a surprise attack in Israel. As Israel responded with retaliatory airstrikes, they could hear the bombings happening around them.

"He said it was so powerful. They've stopped counting the shellings now by the minute. It's now happening by the second, so the situation is extremely dire," said Sammy Nabulsi, a friend of the family.

Thursday, the Israeli army ordered more than 1 million people in northern Gaza to evacuate their homes within 24 hours and move south amid growing concerns of a ground offensive.

Nabulsi said he lost contact with the family Friday, likely due to electricity being shut off in Gaza, but their family members informed him that they were heading south.

The State Department announced that starting Friday, the U.S. government will arrange charter flights for U.S. citizens and their immediate family members who have been unable to book commercial flights out of Israel.

"At the moment, there's no option for American citizens who are in Gaza. That makes absolutely no sense to me," said Nabulsi. "I think the federal government and everybody has a responsibility to bring every U.S. citizen, this Massachusetts family included, back to the United States now, and safely, period."

In a security alert published Friday, the U.S. Embassy in Israel wrote, "The military conflict between Israel and Hamas is ongoing, making departure options for U.S. citizens complex. We are working on potential options for departure from Gaza for U.S. citizens.

Nabulsi said he's reached out to the White House National Security Council, the State Department, and the offices of Sen. Ed Markey, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Gov. Maura Healey, alerting them to the family's situation and asking for help.

"I do genuinely believe that they are trying to do something, they have been very responsive and kind, and I appreciate that," Nabulsi said. "But I have to say that what we are being told that is being attempted and the information that Wafaa and Abood and their 1-year-old Yousef are getting, it's not, at the moment, lining up."

"Senator Warren's office is actively coordinating with the State Department to help American citizens in Israel and Gaza, including Massachusetts residents, safely return to the United States," her press secretary wrote in an email.

"Senator Markey is deeply concerned about the safety of innocent civilians in Israel and Gaza, including American citizens and Massachusetts residents who have been unable to return home," wrote a spokesperson for Markey. "The Senator will continue to do everything in his power to advocate for and support these families."

"Our office is actively supporting Massachusetts constituents in the region seeking to leave Israel and Gaza," added a spokesperson for Rep. Ayanna Pressley. "We are in touch with the family directly and have reached out to the State Department and White House about their case."

"There's a community here, and we are hyper-focused on bringing this Medway family back to Medway, but I do want to keep in our mindset, my understanding is there are 500 to 600 American citizens in Gaza right now, and this ask of the federal government is, frankly, for all of them," said Nabulsi.

"The inability to leave the constant, indiscriminate bombing that's taking place in the Gaza Strip right now — it's causing absolute devastation and terror throughout that entire population of people," said Michael Maria, director of programming for the Boston Palestinian Film Festival, which was supposed to open Friday, but has been postponed because of the war.

He said the order to evacuate Northern Gaza is logistically impossible.

"It's not possible to take place in 24 hours. Roads have been demolished. People cannot be evacuated from hospitals. It literally cannot happen. And so, within Palestinian society, there's real fear as Israel is mounting up this plan for a ground invasion, of what that is going to mean," said Maria. "It feels like it is setting the stage for mass destruction, even beyond what we're seeing — mass loss of life, mass displacement."

While the in-person aspect of the film festival is postponed, Maria said the films are available to view online.

"It was really important to us to continue to make these films available as a resource for anyone that's interested in learning more about Palestinian history and narrative and to be an outlet for people to continue to expand their horizons on Palestinian experience," said Maria.