‘My children are suffering’
As soon as the war began, ElHelou said she began making attempts to leave Gaza, where she’s lived since 1988. The State Department estimated in late 2023 that around 300 American citizens, permanent legal residents or their parents and young children remained trapped by the fighting. A spokesperson didn’t reply to a question on how many remain now.
In March 2024, ElHelou learned from the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem that she, her youngest son, Ayham, and her daughter, Banan, appeared on a final exit list at the Rafah border. Ayham is now 8, and Banan is 12. Almotasem, her now-16-year-old son, wasn’t on the list, however. ElHelou was “astonished” that she was forced to make what her attorneys described in court documents as a “‘Sophie’s Choice.’” She and her husband were estranged before the war began.
An email ElHelou said she received from the embassy stated that the “U.S. government does not control whose names appear on the crossing list nor who is permitted to depart Gaza or enter Egypt.” The email also said the State Department will “continue to advocate for U.S. citizens … to depart Gaza via the Rafah border crossing.”
Israeli troops later seized control of that border, and ElHelou said she had limited contact with U.S. officials afterward until March of this year. She received a call and email from the embassy letting her know that there is an opportunity to leave Gaza without her children. ElHelou said she again replied that she couldn’t leave them.
“It is unthinkable and inhumane to expect a mother to abandon her children in a war zone,” she said. “My children have the same right to safety as any American citizen, and they must be evacuated with me.”
ElHelou pleaded with the U.S. government to help her family, saying she wants her children to live peacefully, attend school, eat enough food, have friends and sleep without fear of bombings. She also said Almotasem needs proper medical care after his back was torn open from stone blocks during an Israeli airstrike on a nearby home about a year ago. He had trouble breathing after.
“(My) children are suffering immensely. They have no educational environment, no health care, no adequate or balanced nutrition, no medication and no entertainment,” she said. “They live in constant fear as the bombings and shelling continue day and night.”
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s office indicated they’re aware of and monitoring the situation. A spokesperson for U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said, “We don’t have anything to share on this.”
Altabet, the attorney representing the government, acknowledged at the hearing the “terrible choice” ElHelou had to make. He referenced, however, a statute that requires the secretary of state to develop policies for the evacuation of private U.S. citizens. He said ElHelou is the only plaintiff from the suit who is both a citizen and is still stranded in Gaza, and that because she rejected an evacuation offer, it’s a “self-inflicted injury.”
The judge quickly interjected.
“That’s a terrible choice to make, and probably one that any mother would make. If I can’t leave with my kids, I’m staying, right?” Kendall said.
‘He is losing hope’
When Marowa Abusharia’s phone calls to her husband manage to go through, the conversations usually devolve into a cadence of “Hello, hello, can you hear me?” due to a shaky internet connection.
