Skip to main content

‘They have no answers’: Americans trapped in Gaza wait for US help

Hundreds of US citizens are stranded in the Gaza Strip despite a US-led diplomatic effort to open the border to aid deliveries.

Gaza refugees
Foreign citizens wait at the Rafah crossing to be allowed to travel on Oct. 21, 2023 in Rafah, Gaza. — Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images

You're reading an excerpt from the Takeaway, where we break down the latest in US-Middle East diplomacy. To read the full newsletter, sign up here. 

WASHINGTON — Humanitarian aid is trickling into Gaza, but Americans stranded in the besieged territory can’t get out.  

The US government organized charter flights for its citizens to evacuate Israel, but no such plans are underway for those who live in the sealed-off Gaza Strip, which the Israeli military is bombing in retaliation for Hamas’ surprise attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that left more than 1,400 dead, including 33 US citizens. 

The Hamas-run health ministry said the death toll climbed past 6,500 on Wednesday as Israel intensified its airstrikes across the 140-square-mile enclave, including in the Nusseirat refugee camp, where an Al-Jazeera correspondent’s wife and two children were killed. An estimated 1 million people — roughly half of Gaza’s population — have reportedly fled their homes, mostly in the northern part of the territory, amid what the United Nations says is an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe. 

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

Continue reading this exclusive analysis

Original reporting and analysis unavailable elsewhere. Subscribe to AL-MONITOR to read this story and access everything we publish