Palestinian Americans rushing to get family in Gaza across Egypt border: 'Very desperate situation'

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Several Palestinian-Americans in the Houston area are working furiously against the clock to get their families out of Gaza. Three months after the start of the Israel-Hamas war, they said conditions are so dire in Gaza that they are doing everything they can to get loved ones out safely.

Shifa, who asked only to be identified by her first name due to privacy concerns, emphasized that the death and destruction in Gaza has not stopped.

According to ABC News, the death toll there now stands at more than 23,000 people. That's one percent of its population of 2.3 million residents.

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She said every passing day that her family is still in Gaza is a day she cannot rest, sharing that her loved ones are not only dealing with no food, clean water, or medical supplies. They have no safe place to go.

"The (survivor's) guilt is indescribable. My dad's cousin's house was bombed. She and her children were killed in the middle of the night while they were sleeping. We've had a family member who ventured out to find firewood to keep their kids warm who was shot by snipers," Shifa said.

"Everyone is in a state of despair. There are mothers picking up grass, boiling it, and feeding it to their kids because they're starving. We have children being amputated and mothers having C-sections without anesthesia and not enough IV fluids. It's a very desperate situation for every civilian on the ground," She added.

That's why she and several other Palestinian Americans in Houston are rushing against time to prevent their families from being a part of the grim numbers. Without a foreign passport, they can't cross the Egyptian border without being added to an expedited waitlist. The process costs upwards of thousands of dollars.

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Kelsey Norman, director of the Women's Rights, Human Rights, and Refugees Program at Rice University's Baker Institute, said this process is not new and has been around for years. But the desperation levels for Gazans are much higher this time around, as well as the costs.

"Individuals have just exhausted all other possible avenues. I've seen petitions for people who have disabled family members or people with severe medical conditions, who have been lobbying the U.S. government or other governments to have their names added to this exit list for months now with no results," Norman said.

There are also the difficult conversations Shifa said her family has to have, deciding who gets to leave first and who has to stay behind and wait. They're holding onto hope that one day, they'll all be able to reunite and no longer have to fear for their lives.

"We created a strategic plan with different options to see what would be the most financially fiscal and doable to save the most amount of people possible," Shifa said. "It's a decision I don't wish upon anybody. For lack of a better word, it's inhumane to even be put in that position where you have to pick and choose."

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