There are an estimated 500-600 Palestinian-Americans in Gaza. The State Department official told the press traveling with Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the US' focus has been “on American citizens, but other countries you could presume are engaged in trying to get their foreign nationals out as well.” Peter Lerner told CNN Friday that any deadline “may slip.” The United Nations on Thursday said it was informed by the Israeli military that “the entire population of Gaza north of Wadi Gaza should relocate to southern Gaza within the next 24 hours,” but IDF spokesman Lt. US officials have been engaged in discussions for days to try to secure a humanitarian corridor that would allow Americans and other civilians to safely leave Gaza ahead of an expected Israeli military incursion. This comes after the United States has continued to press the Egyptian and Israeli governments on “the importance of the Rafah crossing being open for American citizens and foreign nationals of other countries who want to leave and have the right to leave to be able to do so,” a senior State Department official said Friday. "It feels almost as though we were forgotten, I personally feel like we’re second-class citizens." "I’ve had to put a lot of pressure on the embassy," Abushaaban said. The IDF said Friday that it had notified 120 families of those taken hostage. It's unclear how many people are being held hostage Israeli authorities have said as many as 150 people may have been kidnapped. Some context: Hamas, the militant group that governs Gaza, kidnapped a number of people, including both civilians and soldiers, during its October 7 attack on Israel. “And honestly most of the time he was listening to people’s stories and their desires for his action, and his answers were inspiring.”Īlthough the president could not give much information, according to Dekel-Chen, the president’s “willingness to listen” was “extraordinary.”ĭekel-Chen’s son, Sagui has been missing since Saturday when his kibbutz was invaded. “As crazy as this must sound, at that moment, as proud as I am to be an Israeli I was no less proud to be an American as a result of that phone call,” he said. “As an American citizen, as an Israeli citizen, as someone whose beloved son, we are sure is being held alive, dead, wounded, we don’t know, I could not possibly ask for more than President Biden expressed about the United States' commitment to getting these people back,” Jonathan Dekel-Chen told CNN’s Abby Phillip.ĭekel-Chen said it wasn’t an easy conversation, but that the president made it clear that he and the administration are in it for the “long haul.”
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