The United Nations says the hunger crisis in Gaza has hit “new and astonishing levels of desperation.” American Palestinians in the U.S. face many challenges as they try to help family members there.
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
The international community continues to speak out for those who are starving in Gaza. Over the weekend, Israel began daily 10-hour pauses in fighting in the most populated areas to allow in food and aid. But aid groups say what’s getting in still isn’t nearly enough. As KQED’s Nisa Khan reports, Palestinian Americans in the U.S. are struggling to figure out what they can do to help their loved ones.
NISA KHAN, BYLINE: For nearly two years, Rolla Alaydi has followed what little news she can get of her family in Gaza with horror. Israel’s war against Hamas following the militant group’s deadly assault in October 2023 has laid siege to the Palestinian territory. Israeli forces have killed about 60,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
ROLLA ALAYDI: How are you?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Good. How you doing?
ALAYDI: I’m good.
KHAN: And almost every Sunday for nearly two years, Alaydi has been coming out to Del Monte Beach, south of Santa Cruz, to talk to anyone who will listen to her about her siblings and their kids in Gaza, who have been displaced.
ALAYDI: My niece, Alma, she’s 6 years old now, but it’s been two years for her living in a tent, from one tent to another tent. She’s supposed to be in a school, learning the alphabet, reading, writing. And she’s just in tent, like, you know?
KHAN: As people play volleyball and walk their dogs, Alaydi stands behind a table covered in tiny Palestinian flags, offering desserts and paper cups of Turkish coffee as she talks about her family’s talents, hobbies and dreams. She wants to make them more than just headlines. She often worries they’ll be bombed, and now she’s worried they’ll starve to death.
ALAYDI: I’m going to show you a picture of my cousin Mahir. I couldn’t even recognize him. He literally become a skin and bone.
KHAN: New findings by a group of U.N.-backed experts tracking food security indicate a worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding in Gaza. According to the report, more than 20,000 children in Gaza were admitted for acute malnutrition treatment between April and mid-July. Alaydi came to the United States for school and is now a naturalized American citizen. In addition to humanizing the crisis in Gaza, she’s trying to raise money for food, supplies and legal assistance for her family. She feels a heavy responsibility.
ALAYDI: That’s the guilt that destroyed me from inside. Cannot sleep the night. I cannot even function. But every day, I woke up and just dragged myself. I was like, I need to be strong for them.
KHAN: Last year, Alaydi applied for humanitarian parole for all her family members. That allows people to come to the U.S. temporarily on urgent humanitarian grounds. It was denied in early June. In the letter Alaydi received, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said the family hadn’t shown that there were urgent humanitarian reasons to grant parole. The Trump administration has taken drastic steps through strict temporary humanitarian protections for people trying to come to the U.S. The denial was a major blow to Alaydi. She plans on appealing that decision.
ALAYDI: I have no other options.
KHAN: Alaydi’s despair and helplessness is shared by many others around the country, says Rania Mustafa. She’s the head of the Palestinian American Community Center in New Jersey.
RANIA MUSTAFA: No matter how much you advocate, how much you speak, you know, very little is changing on the ground in Gaza. If not, things are getting a lot worse.
KHAN: She says Palestinian Americans have been consistently calling their representatives in Congress, advocating for a sustained ceasefire. Israel has denied that there’s starvation in Gaza and has blamed the United Nations for failing to deliver supplies. But the U.N. has said the reason it can’t get more aid into Gaza is that Israel’s ongoing war makes it too dangerous.
MUSTAFA: I know a lot of us could feel exhausted after, you know, almost two years of calling our legislators and demanding things and very little changing, but that is the track we have to do.
KHAN: She says many have also been focused on raising money so their loved ones can buy food. But even money doesn’t do a lot, explains Nafez, who lives in Fresno and has many family members in Gaza. He asked us not to use his last name because he’s traveling later this year, and even though he’s an American citizen, he’s worried about being stopped at the border by American officials if he speaks to the media.
NAFEZ: Even if you have the money, you don’t have anything to buy. And if it’s available, it is very, very expensive.
KHAN: Despite the barriers, he doesn’t think donating is a futile task.
NAFEZ: Donations is good. It’s hard to get there, but still some of it gets there.
KHAN: Ultimately, he just wants the war to end.
For NPR News, I’m Nisa Khan in San Francisco.
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