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    Daughters of Palestinian Americans trapped in Gaza plead for humanitarian aid and families’ safe return
    • October 27, 2023

    Three daughters of the Kaoud family made an emotional plea Thursday for help getting their family members trapped in the Gaza Strip back home to Southern California.

    As the Israel-Hamas war rages on, the Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR-LA, hosted a press conference in Anaheim with family members of six Palestinian American citizens who haven’t been able to leave Gaza. Officials from Muslim and Palestinian American communities in Southern California called for an immediate ceasefire by all parties in Gaza – and for President Joe Biden to make bringing trapped family members home at priority.

    Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, CAIR-LA, speaks during a press conference in their offices in Anaheim on Thursday, October 26, 2023. CAIR-LA wants the U.S. government to get the Palestinian-Americans currently trapped in Gaza, out of the country and back to the U.S. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

    With family members trapped in Gaza, Helal Kaoud, left, is comforted as she stands with her cousins, Dooneya Kaoud, and sister Shamiss Kaoud, as Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, CAIR-LA, speaks during a press conference at the CAIR-LA offices in Anaheim on Thursday, October 26, 2023. CAIR-LA and the family wants the U.S. government to get the Palestinian-Americans currently trapped in Gaza, out of the country and back to the U.S. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

    Dina Chehata, civil rights managing attorney for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, CAIR-LA, speaks during a press conference in their offices in Anaheim on Thursday, October 26, 2023. CAIR-LA wants the U.S. government to get the Palestinian-Americans currently trapped in Gaza, out of the country and back to the U.S. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

    Standing with Palestinian-Americans whose family members are unable to leave Gaza, Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, CAIR-LA, speaks during a press conference in their offices in Anaheim on Thursday, October 26, 2023. CAIR-LA wants the U.S. government to get the Palestinian-Americans currently trapped in Gaza, out of the country and back to the U.S. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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    “The situation is dire… we feel abandoned, unimportant and unheard. We need our father back home safe, and every U.S. citizen back home safe,” said Shamiss Kaoud, who lives in Moreno Valley. “No one is listening. No one is helping. It’s as if nobody cares. Shouldn’t being a U.S. citizen matter?”

    CAIR-LA says an estimated 600 Palestinian American citizens are currently stranded in the war zone, where there have been deadly air strikes and food, medicine and supplies are becoming increasingly scarce.

    Kaoud’s father, Jamal, was born in a Gaza refugee camp. He came to the U.S. to pursue civil engineering and went on to build many Orange County buildings with his company, she said. Jamal Kaoud was visiting Gaza with his brothers on vacation before the war broke out, his daughter said, adding the 68-year-old wears a pacemaker and defibrillator, and is “running out of his daily medication.”

    “Not only is he worried about surviving the air strikes, he is worried about whether or not his medication will last,” she said. “It is imperative that he gets back home.”

    Kaoud said that she and family members have reached out to federal and state representatives, U.S. embassies and government offices, saying there has been zero aid or urgent actions in response – she said they have even been hung up on.

    To help drive awareness, the family created a social media page. Her trapped cousin and uncles have done interviews from inside the home they are sheltering in.

    “Growing up we thought we’d always be protected. Where is that said protection now? Why are we having to beg for things that should be promised?” Kaoud asked.

    CAIR-LA officials criticized Biden for emphasizing the evacuation of nearly 300 Americans from Israel, saying little effort has been put into getting the path paved for Palestinian Americans to leave Gaza, which would happen through the Rafah border with Egypt.

    Muslim, Arab and Palestinian Americans are “always made to feel like ‘second class citizens’ in their own country,” CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush said. “Is it too much to expect that our government should and will care for all Americans, regardless of their race, religion, ethnicity or national background?”

    The State Department said Tuesday the United States’ recently appointed special envoy for humanitarian issues in the Mideast had been engaging in negotiations with Israel, Egypt and the United Nations to get Rafah to open for U.S. citizens, other dual nationals and employees of international organizations. But they also said the Hamas has blocked access to the crossing.

    The Kaoud brothers Hesham, Jamal, Esam and Nezam, with Esam’s son Ameer, pictured in Gaza. Family members say the brothers are now stranded in the war zone amid the Israel-Hamas war. (Courtesy of Enjy El-Kadi / CAIR-LA)

    Jamal Kaoud with his daughters Shamiss and Dooneya, from Moreno Valley. Family members say their father is trapped in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war. (Courtesy of Enjy El-Kadi / CAIR-LA)

    The Kaoud family, including father Esam and son Ameer, whom family members say are trapped in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war. (Courtesy of Enjy El-Kadi / CAIR-LA)

    The Kaoud family, including Jamal Kaoud and daughters Shamiss and Dooneya. (Courtesy of Enjy El-Kadi / CAIR-LA)

    Jamal Kaoud with one of his daughters, Shamiss Kaoud. Family members say their father is trapped in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war.(Courtesy of Enjy El-Kadi / CAIR-LA)

    The Kaoud family, including father Esam and son Ameer, whom family members say are trapped in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war. (Courtesy of Enjy El-Kadi / CAIR-LA)

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    The Kaoud family was planning the “trip of a lifetime” to visit relatives,” said Dina Chehata, CAIR-LA’s civil rights managing attorney. “All six men are now trapped in Gaza in what has become nothing short of a hellscape for them.

    “What is happening today in Gaza is apocalyptic,” she said, “and the Kaoud family are trapped in it.”

    Chehata said the family tried to reach the Rafah border to cross, “only to be turned back — a journey that puts their lives at risk.”

    Helal Kaoud, from Riverside, said her father Esam Kaoud, Jamal’s brother, was visiting Gaza for the first time in more than 20 years. Knowing the risks, he had promised his wife he would be safe and home in a month.

    Related links

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    Harassment against Jews, Muslims on the rise since Hamas attacks
    US developing plans to evacuate Americans from Mideast
    US presses Gulf allies to help stem fresh fundraising for Hamas
    Hamas frees two Israeli women as US advises delaying ground war to allow talks on captives

    “On Sept. 25, my dad, my 20-year-old brother and four of my uncles, who are all U.S. citizens, went to visit our family in Gaza,” Helal Kaoud, 28, said through tears. “Two weeks into their vacation, the attacks started. They are no longer safe. Now, our conversations have shifted from daily vacation updates to proof-of-life updates.

    “We hold our breath every day waiting to hear from our family, to hear that they made it through Israel’s airstrikes, to see another day,” she said.

    Helal Kaoud said their family here can briefly check in with their family members when the electricity is turned on in Gaza. She called for a ceasefire to “save our family … and prevent more innocent lives from being taken away.”

    “We are watching a genocide unfold before our very eyes, with our families in the middle of it,” she said.

    Shamiss Kaoud said her family will continue to call on U.S. leaders daily for answers.

    “We don’t have much faith, but we have to hold on to our faith that something will be done. Every time we feel we need to reach out, a part of us knows deep down we may not get help,” she said. “We have no other options at this point.”

    The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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