American Family Members Rescued From Gaza, U.S. Says
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
GAZA/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – The mother and American uncle of a U. S. military member were safe outside the war-torn Gaza Strip on Saturday after being rescued in an unprecedented secret operation, U.S. officials confirmed.
Zahra Sckak, 44, made it out of Gaza on New Year’s Eve, along with her brother-in-law, Farid Sukaik, an American citizen, in a rescue mission involving the United States, Israel, Egypt and others, according to sources familiar with the situation.
It is the only known operation of its kind to extract American citizens and their close family members during the months of devastating ground fighting and Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.
It came days after Fadi Sckak, who had already lost his father to the violence in Gaza, appealed for help.
“I just want to see my mother again, that’s the goal,” said Sckak, a university student in Sunnyvale, California, in remarks published by The Associated Press (AP) news agency.
The 25-year-old is one of the Palestinian couple’s three American sons, including an active-duty U.S. soldier serving in South Korea. “Being able to hold her again. I can’t bear to lose her,” he said at the time.
While few details have been released about the following rescue operation, it was remarkably successful. Most people who made it out of northern and central Gaza through the Rafah crossing into Egypt fled south in the initial weeks of the war.
ESCAPING TERRITORY
An escape from the heart of the Palestinian territory through intense combat has become far more dangerous and difficult amid fierce clashes between Hamas and Israeli forces.
Although in safety now, Zahra Sckak will mourn her husband, Abedalla Sckak, who was shot earlier in the Israel-Hamas war as the family fled from a building hit by an airstrike.
He died days later, sources said—one of her three American sons, Spc. Ragi A. Sckak, 24, serves as an infantryman in the U.S. military.
The rescued family leaves behind a territory in turmoil, with Gaza’s Hamas-run health Hamas-run Ministry of Health saying at least 122 Palestinians were killed and 256 injured over the past 24 hours.
The latest figures brought the overall toll since the start of Israel’s operation in Gaza to 22,722 killed and 58,166 injured, according to the ministry. The figures have been impossible to verify independently, and Hamas has been reluctant to say how many fighters are among those killed.
Israel began its war against Hamas, condemned as a terrorist organization by most Western countries, after its fighters killed about 1,200 people in the Jewish nation on October 7.
With tensions rising, northern Israel was hit by a barrage of rockets fired from southern Lebanon on early Saturday, officials said.
‘PRELIMINARY RESPONSE’
Hezbollah later explained that its attack was a “preliminary response” to the killing of Hamas’s deputy chief in a Beirut suburb last week.
Israel later carried out a series of retaliatory strikes on Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon.
The Israeli military said its fighter jets had attacked targets in the towns of Aita al-Sha’ab, Yaron, and Ramya, hitting a launch site and military buildings.
Amid the escalating fighting, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said in Lebanon that a Palestinian state was the “only way” to achieve peace in the region.
He also warned against an escalation of the conflict in Gaza, saying that “nobody will win” if other countries in the region are dragged in.
His comments came as the U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, began a week-long tour of talks with regional leaders.
Visits to Turkey and Greece on Saturday will be followed by stops in Israel and the West Bank as well as Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, the U.S. said.
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