Plymouth family trapped in Gaza as death toll from Israeli airstrikes rises
A family from Plymouth is trapped in Gaza as Israeli airstrikes on the Palestinian enclave leave multiple people dead, including in the south where Israel had told civilians to seek refuge, WCVB reported.
Hazem Shafai, of Plymouth, and his wife were on the list of people approved to cross the Rafah border into Egypt, but the couple's three children were left off that list, Shafai's brother said.
Roughly 1,100 people have left the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing since Wednesday under an apparent agreement among the United States, Egypt, Israel and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas.
"They've been going, or they're being asked to go over there almost every day, so I think today was their fifth time attempting to cross, and they were turned back," Hani Shafai said of his brother's family.
"It's getting a lot more dangerous by the day, and the supplies are very limited, and the aid coming across the border is extremely limited compared to the needs that exist," he said. "So you will see a lot of tension among the people trying to feed their families and get water and food from any available resources."
On Saturday, two strikes hit a U.N. school sheltering thousands just north of Gaza City, killing several people in tents in the schoolyard and women who were baking bread inside the building, according to the U.N. agency. Initial reports indicated that 20 people were killed, said spokeswoman Juliette Touma. The health ministry in Gaza said 15 people were killed at the school and another 70 wounded.
Also Saturday, two people were killed in a strike by the gate of Nasser Hospital in Gaza City, said Medhat Abbas, health ministry spokesman. A strike hit near the entrance to the emergency ward of Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City, injuring at least 21, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
The World Health Organization called attacks on health care in Gaza “unacceptable.”
Also hit was the family home of Hamas’ exiled leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Shati refugee camp on the northern edge of Gaza City, according to the Hamas-run media office in Gaza. It had no immediate details on damage or casualties.
Israel has continued bombing in the south, saying it is striking Hamas targets. Hamas attacked Israel Oct. 7, killing hundreds of civilians and taking hostages.
"(The situation is) really in dire need of a resolution for my brother to cross," Hani Shafai said. "Hopefully, a humanitarian ceasefire to allow movement into more secured areas and, hopefully, we define a safe haven for some of the civilians that could stay in without any bombing falling on top of their heads."
A spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Bill Keating, D-Bourne, said the congressman is working with U.S. officials in Jerusalem and Cairo in an attempt to resolve the issues preventing Hazem Shafai and his family from crossing into Egypt.
The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has reached 9,448, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, more than 140 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids. The UNRWA says 72 of its staff members have been killed.
More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, most of them in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that started the fighting, and 242 hostages were taken from Israel into Gaza by the militant group.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Plymouth family trapped in Gaza as death toll from airstrikes rises
