Family of Michigan couple stuck in Gaza pleads for help: 'We want them home'

Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press
Updated ·3 min read
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The family of a Livonia couple stuck in Gaza pleaded with the U.S. government for help Thursday, saying they have been blocked several times from leaving at the border with Egypt.

"They're struggling there," Yahya Alarayshi, of Canton, said of his parents, Zakaria Alarayshi and Laila Alarayshi, of Livonia. "Bombing is around them ... every single day for the last three and a half weeks. ... We want them home as soon as possible. We're asking the State Department ... to make it happen."

Laila Alarayshi (left) and her husband Zakaria Alarayshi, of Livonia, are trapped in Gaza with bombing around them, according to a lawsuit filed in Detroit and family members.
Laila Alarayshi (left) and her husband Zakaria Alarayshi, of Livonia, are trapped in Gaza with bombing around them, according to a lawsuit filed in Detroit and family members.

Zakaria Alarayshi and Laila Alarayshi were on vacation in Gaza visiting family when the Israel-Hamas conflict started Oct. 7, according to Yahya Alarayshi and a lawsuit filed Oct. 13 against the State and Defense departments. They are U.S. citizens and deserve help just much as American citizens in Israel, the lawsuit argues.

The couple tried to leave six times at the Rafah border crossing into Egypt, but were denied, said an attorney at a press conference held Thursday with the family outside the federal district courthouse in Detroit. The lawsuit accused the U.S. government of discriminating against Palestinian Americans by not helping them flee Gaza. Nabih Ayad, an attorney representing the family, said the U.S. should be working with Israel and Egypt to help the metro Detroit family and other Palestinian Americans stuck in Gaza.

"As the most powerful nation in the world, you can do better," Ayad said. "Are we not all United States citizens? ... We want you to do more ... Let's get these people out."

Ayad and the family held a press conference at the same location Oct. 14, the day after the lawsuit was filed, with a similar message. Since the family is still stuck, they held another one hoping to bring attention to the plight of Palestinian Americans trapped.

Yahya Alarayshi and his wife, Lisa Alarayshi, (left) of Canton, speak on Nov. 2, 2023, outside the U.S. federal district courthouse on Lafayette in Detroit. They are asking the U.S. government to help rescue their parents, Zakaria Alarayashi and his wife, Laila Alarayshi, of Liovnia, and other Palestinian Americans stuck in Gaza.
Yahya Alarayshi and his wife, Lisa Alarayshi, (left) of Canton, speak on Nov. 2, 2023, outside the U.S. federal district courthouse on Lafayette in Detroit. They are asking the U.S. government to help rescue their parents, Zakaria Alarayashi and his wife, Laila Alarayshi, of Liovnia, and other Palestinian Americans stuck in Gaza.

Alarayshi said his parents are ill and need medicine, food and other amenities.

"They are sick, they have diabetes, they have high blood pressure and they have no medication," he said. "They have no clean water. They have no real bathroom to use over there."

More: Livonia couple trapped in Gaza pleads for help: 'We are scared'

Alarayshi said his parents are stuck in a building where 150 people are crammed into an area of about 2,000 square feet, where they have to wait to use the bathroom and wait for food.

"They went there for a vacation, and they need to come home," he said.

Zakaria Alarayshi said in a voicemail left with Mariam Charara, of the Dearborn-based Arab American Civil Rights League: "We are scared. We can't go to the bathroom. We can't go anywhere. We don't have electricity, we're without water, there's nothing. I think we are going to die before we leave."

The U.S. State Department told the Free Press on Oct. 14 in an email: "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 - there may be very little notice if the crossing opens and it may only open for a limited time."

A limited number of foreign passport holders were allowed to cross into Egypt after the border opened Wednesday.

Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com, Facebook.com/nwarikoo or X @nwarikoo.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Family of metro Detroit couple pleads for rescue from Gaza