Detroit Lines star Alex Anzalone pleaded with President Joe Biden to help his parents get out of Israel after they were stranded in their hotel when Hamas launched a surprise attack over the weekend.
Anzalone, 29, said in a now-deleted tweet that his parents, Sal and Judy, were stuck in their Jerusalem hotel with the rest of their church group from Naples, Florida, who were touring the Holy Land.
The linebacker made the revelation after helping the Lions defeat the Carolina Panthers 42-24 at Ford Field on Sunday. He leads his team with 11 tackles, including two on quarterback Byron Daniels, bringing his tally to 35, seventh best in the NFL.
Sal and Judy are part of a group of 53 from the First Naples congregation. Anzalone retweeted a message from Florida Congressman Byron Donalds pleading with the Biden administration to do more to help Americans still in the crossfire.
Detroit Lines star Alex Anzalone pleaded with President Joe Biden to help his parents get out of Israel
Anzalone’s parents were with a church group from Naples, Florida, when they ran aground
The linebacker made the revelation after helping the Lions defeat the Carolina Panthers 42-24 at Ford Field on Sunday.
‘My parents are in this group. Please get my parents home @potus,’ he wrote on X.
‘It’s difficult. (It’s) all I thought about,’ Anzalone later commented The Detroit News.
The First Naples group was not supposed to leave Israel until Thursday, but is now looking to get out of the country sooner. Since the fighting broke out, US airlines have confirmed they are suspending services to Tel-Aviv until further notice.
Pastor Alan Brumback said in a post on the church’s Facebook page on Saturday that the group was safe in their hotel.
‘Keep praying for Israel and for this to be resolved as peacefully and quickly as possible. We trust in the Lord and we know that God has it,’ Brumack wrote.
While in an interview with Fox News, Rep. Donalds said that the group was ‘panicked’.
“We must provide every possible assistance to Israel to get Americans back,” the congressman added.
In a post on X, Daniels said: ‘We need to provide as much assistance as possible to get our people home. Let me be VERY CLEAR with Hamas: Touch an American’s head and see what happens. It should also be the Biden admin position.’
A plume of smoke rises into the sky of Gaza City during an Israeli airstrike on October 9
The Israeli government formally declared war at the weekend and gave the green light for “significant military action” to retaliate against Hamas for its surprise attack, while the army worked until Monday to crush fighters still in southern towns and its bombardment on tighten the Gaza. Band.
The toll left 1,100 dead and thousands wounded on both sides.
More than 40 hours after Hamas launched its unprecedented incursion from Gaza, Israeli forces were still struggling with militants trapped in various locations.
At least 700 people are believed to have died in Israel – a staggering toll on a scale not seen in decades – and more than 400 in Gaza.
Israel said it had brought in special forces to try to wrest control of four Israeli sites from Hamas fighters, including two kibbutzim that militants entered earlier in their attacks.
Footage released by Israeli police from one area showed forces kneeling in tall grass as they exchanged fire with Hamas militants across an open field.
The declaration of war predicted greater fighting, and a big question was whether Israel would launch a ground offensive in Gaza, a move that has seen heightened casualties in the past.
Meanwhile, Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad group claimed to have captured more than 130 people from inside Israel and brought them to Gaza, saying they would be exchanged for the release of thousands of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
The announcement, although unconfirmed, was the first sign of the scale of kidnappings.
The prisoners are known to include soldiers and civilians, including women, children and older adults – mostly Israelis, but also some people of other nationalities. The Israeli army said only that the number of prisoners was ‘significant’.
The Israeli military estimated that 1,000 Hamas fighters took part in Saturday’s initial incursion.
The high figure underlined the extent of planning by the militant group that rules Gaza, which said it launched the attack in response to increasing Palestinian suffering under Israel’s occupation and blockade of Gaza.