NEW YORK (PIX11) — The war in Gaza is continuing to take a toll on civilians, including Americans. A mother from Staten Island has three children trapped in Gaza.
Sharing gut-wrenching voicemails and speaking through a translator, Dina Massoud said she is desperate to get her three children — a 12-year-old, 15-year-old and 16-year-old — out of Gaza as Israel bombs the city of more than 2 million in an attempt to root out Hamas.
Massoud came to the United States for work and has become an American citizen and was in the process of bringing her children here when the war broke out.
“My children have nothing to do with politics. I’m the only one who can protect them,” Massoud said.
Massoud has been told by numerous elected officials and nonprofits working in the area that there is just nothing that can be done right now to get anyone out.
President Joe Biden was able to broker a deal to get limited aid into Gaza but has not secured evacuations for civilians, including American citizens and their families.
Meanwhile, it was not just Biden and Gov. Kathy Hochul who descended on Israel this week as the country wages war on Hamas.
Many prominent Jewish leaders from the tri-state area also made the journey to see firsthand the impacts of the terror attack and find out what Israel is looking for from the U.S.
PIX11 News caught up with Jason Shames of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey. He Zoomed from his hotel room following a long week of touring a country at war, meeting with people held hostage and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, among others.
Shames described the people of Israel as grateful for American support and determined.
“They recognize if they don’t defeat Hamas and the terror infrastructure on their doorstep, this pain and future pain will never go away,” Shames said.
