Salsabeel ElHelou, an American citizen stuck in Gaza, wakes up everyday and checks that her three children are still breathing. In August, an Israeli airstrike shredded her teenage son’s back — leaving him with an open and untreated wound. Her three kids — 7-year-old Ayham, 12-year-old Banan and 15-year-old Almotasem — are suffering from painful skin conditions caused by drinking and bathing in unclean water; their pus-filled wounds attract flies and mosquitoes. Two of them have lost teeth from malnutrition.
ElHelou is one of nine plaintiffs — a combination of U.S. citizens, permanent U.S. residents, and Americans with immediate family trapped in Gaza — who sued the Biden administration on Thursday in a bid to compel the government to help the families leave. The Council on American-Islamic Relations and the law office of Maria Kari alleged that the American government violated the civil rights of these Palestinian Americans by abandoning them in a war zone. ….more