Washington DC, United States: A United States couple, Zakaria Alarayshi and his wife Laila Alarayshi, experienced death while still alive when an Israeli defense force’s airplane hit the building next to their house in Gaza.
Alarayshi shared his experience with the reporters of Al Jazeera through a telephone interview. He was quoted saying, “We were confused and huddled together. It was death, death. You feel like you’ve died from the impact and the fear. I am a grown man, and I cried from the fear. Imagine what the children are going through. We had no idea what to do.”
During this crucial time in Gaza and Israel, these two are among the other hundreds of the citizens of the US who are trapped in the Gaza Strip. It is to be noted that the situation in the region is very critical as thousands of people have lost their lives in the attack.
According to the update shared by Alarayshis, Gaza was one of the stoppages of their family for several weeks, but now their stay is indefinite. There is almost no option for the couple to escape the war-torn region.
According to the reports, the couple is a resident of Livonia, Michigan. It has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration to compel the government to evacuate the Americans from the region.
Alarayshi outlined that he has filed a lawsuit to urge the Biden administration to treat all Americans equally, no matter which side they are on. He also mentioned that he voted for Biden during the presidential elections in 2020 in the hope that he work for the people of the United States.
Several reports suggest that the government of the United States has evacuated thousands of citizens from the neighboring nation, including a cruise ship. According to Al Jazeera, he stated, “I worked three jobs. I built a business. I pay taxes. I did everything right to build a better future for myself and my family and live honorably. But now I feel like a second-class citizen. President Biden should take care of everyone.”
The lawsuit, filed by the Alarayshi family:
The government of the United States is responsible for protecting its citizens abroad, outlined Nabih Ayad, founder of the Arab American Civil Rights League (ACRL) – a Michigan-based advocacy group involved in the lawsuit.
Lawyer Ayad also interacted with the reporters of Al Jazeera, during which he outlined, “The fact that you are evacuating US citizens of Israeli descent but not US citizens of Palestinian descent creates a problem.”
He furthermore pointed out that the situation in Gaza is critical and extreme but the US’s special attention is on Israel and Egypt, who are the allies that border the territory and can help in evacuations of the civilians.
He was quoted saying, “Again, who’s doing the bombing? What weapons are they using? It’s Israel, our friend, that’s going to be doing the bombing, using United States weapons, and they have control of all those borders.”
Israeli airstrike:
As the government of Israel is planning a ground invasion over the Gaza Strip, the territory of Hamas, it has been continuously bombarding. To carry out the invasion with the minimum number of civilian causalities, the authorities of Israel have ordered millions of Palestinians to leave the northern part of Gaza.
The majorly attacked region from the Israeli air raids in the southern cities of Khan Yunis and Rafah.
It is noted that the Alarayshi couple is stuck in Khan Yunis, near the Rafah crossing – which is known to be a vital route to evacuate via Egypt. However, the couple is still stuck in the region because the US citizens haven’t received safe passage across.
President Biden’s visit to Israel
The President of the United States will be visiting Israel on Wednesday to meet the Prime Minister of the nation – Benjamin Netanyahu. It is expected that during the meeting, he will showcase his unwavering support for the US ally.
According to the schedule, the President was supported to visit Jordan. However, following a hospital blast in Gaza, his plan was rescheduled.