Who are Abood Okal and Wafa Abuzayda Massachusetts couple stuck in Gaza amidst Israel-Hamas conflict

A Massachusetts family has ended up abandoned in Gaza for quite a long time in the midst of the continuous clash between Israeli powers and Hamas assailants. Their critical circumstance has been intensified by the absence of fundamental assets, passing on them without satisfactory admittance to food, water, fuel, and network, as they frantically look for a way back home.

Who are Abood Okal and Wafa Abuzayda?

The couple being referred to, Abood Okal and Wafa Abuzayda, alongside their 1-year-old child, Yousef, had been seeing family in Gaza when the surprising ejection of savagery happened on October 7. At first booked to get back to their home in Medway, Massachusetts, on October 13, they ended up caught in a locale overwhelmed in turmoil and peril.

Abood Okal is a former PhD student of our department living in Massachusetts. He is stranded in Gaza along with his wife and one year old son. I miss him and hope that they can come back to the US safely. https://t.co/0AS4UGF6F3 pic.twitter.com/ItCpLACzJa

— Hamid Ghandehari (@H_Ghandehari) October 28, 2023

Sammy Nabulsi, a dear companion and lawyer for the family, shed light on their problematic circumstance, portraying it as “very hazardous and desperate,” as time passes deteriorating their predicament.

Nabulsi featured the difficulties the family confronted, expressing, “As of now, the family is remaining in a solitary family home with 40 others taking sanctuary. They’re dozing on the floor, as they’ve been accomplishing for barely fourteen days. Their central concern has been admittance to water.”

The shortage of water was only one of their battles. With restricted admittance to fuel, their capacity to siphon and channel water turned out to be seriously compromised, leaving them with no decision except for to polish off untreated saltwater for food.

Notwithstanding the water shortage, the family confronted an extreme lack of food supplies, trusting that hours will get fundamental things like bread. Yousef, their kid, confronted specific dietary difficulties, having run out of milk, with no prompt possibilities of tracking down more in the area.

Their difficulty was intensified by the unavoidable risks of living in a contention zone. Abood Okal, in a sound message transferred through Nabulsi, related the nerve racking encounters of seeing different airstrikes in nearness to their brief home, uplifting their apprehensions and weaknesses.

The heightening savagery and falling apart circumstances highlighted the criticalness of their circumstance, as they attempted to keep up with even the most essential necessities for their endurance.

A Medway father stuck in Gaza along with his wife and 1-year-old son have been trapped by a closed border amid the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Abood Okal, through an audio file shared by friend Sammy Nabulsi of Boston, shared his experience sheltering in the southern… pic.twitter.com/sVbQBdAmWN

— masslivenews (@masslivenews) October 26, 2023

Abandoned and Deserted

In spite of their endeavors to look for help from the U.S. government and discretionary missions, the family communicated a feeling of surrender, having gotten no substantial data or help for their departure. Nabulsi, disappointed by the absence of reaction from the U.S. specialists, accentuated the obvious difference between the endeavors made to clear Americans from Israel and those abandoned in Gaza.

As indicated by him, “A resident is a resident, is a resident. Shouldn’t make any difference which side of the wall they’re on. They are qualified for wellbeing and security by their own administration.”

Endeavors to leave Gaza were over and again obstructed, in spite of being given explicit dates and times for possible clearings. Each endeavor was met with barriers and regulatory obstructions, leaving them helpless before a complex international impasse including Israel, Egypt, and the Hamas government.

The family’s reliance on vehicular admittance to the Rafah Crossing was hampered by the consumption of their fuel supply, driving them to think about a risky excursion by walking with their small kid.