Two American-Palestinian brothers ‘taken by Israeli soldiers during raid on Gaza shelter’: Family says they’ve been pleading with State Department to evacuate them for MONTHS

Two American-Palestinian brothers have been detained by Israeli soldiers after a raid on their Gaza hideout, according to relatives who say they have begged the US for months to evacuate them.

Borak Alagha, 18, and Hashem Alagha, 20, were born in the Chicago area before their family moved to Canada and eventually to Gaza.

The State Department had reportedly approved them for evacuation months ago, but family members say that despite their pleas, they have been unable to actually secure their departure and have now been captured by Israeli forces.

They belong to the fewer than 50 US citizens It is known that they are still trying to leave the closed Gaza, now that the war between Israel and Hamas has been going on for almost four months.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the government will “talk to our Israeli counterparts” about the reported arrests of the brothers.

Cousin Yasmeen Elagha, a law student at Northwestern University, said Israeli forces entered the family home in the town of al-Masawi, near Khan Younis, around 5 a.m. Gaza time on Thursday.

The soldiers tied up the women and children in the family, blindfolded them and placed them outside the house.

The two American brothers, their Canadian citizen father, a mentally disabled uncle and two other adult male relatives were taken by the Israelis and have not returned, Elagha said.

Men from a neighboring household were also taken away.

This also applied to other adult male relatives from another household of the Alagha family. In total, about 20 family members were arrested, the American cousin said.

They took shelter in a small house in the Al-Mawasi neighborhood, near Khan Younis, after Israeli airstrikes destroyed it.

They had little food and resorted to drinking dirty water.

Elagha told the Chicago Sun Times that she had been “screaming this at the top of her lungs for the past few months.”

She added, “And I told the U.S. government every step of the way, ‘Something will happen. They are already in danger, and they will be in even more danger if you do nothing.”

She said the family had made four attempts to leave through the Rafah Crossing on the Egyptian border but had been turned away because their names were not on an official evacuation list.

Other U.S. green card holders and close relatives of the citizens and permanent residents are also still struggling and unable to leave despite requests for permission to leave, according to their U.S. families and lawyers.

An advocate for American families faulted U.S. officials Thursday for not taking more urgent action to help the Alagha brothers and other Palestinian Americans, U.S. residents and immediate family members out of harm’s way in Gaza.

Detention or death from an Israeli airstrike ‘were two of the biggest fears this family has had all along. And now the worst has happened,” said Maria Kari, an attorney with the Arab American Civil Rights League.

‘It could have been prevented. It could have been prevented if the US had advocated for this family in time.”

The State Department said Thursday it was seeking more information about the reported detentions.

It cited privacy concerns for the brothers after making no further comment.

U.S. officials said in December that they had helped 1,300 Americans, green card holders and their eligible immediate family members leave Gaza since Oct. 7.

State Department officials declined in January to say how many people the U.S. has asked for permission to leave remain in Gaza, citing the “fluidity” of the situation.

The brothers are believed to be among three US citizens taken into custody by Israeli forces this week as Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the region to try to mediate with ally Israel and regional Arab leaders.

Relations between Israel and the United States have fallen of their surge immediately after the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel that sparked the war.

The two allies have recently been publicly at odds over efforts to ease the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, toward peace there, and some other issues.

Earlier this week a 46 year old Palestinian American woman, Samaher Esmail was taken from her home in the occupied West Bank on Monday and detained.

The Israeli military said she had been arrested for “incitement on social media” and was being held for questioning.

The U.S. Embassy in Israel said Thursday there were no updates on her case.

Esmail’s family said the U.S. Embassy asked them for a list of her medications on Thursday, but they would not be able to contact her before Monday.

Family members said she needs the medication for uterine cancer. The family says they still don’t know where she is being held.

The Israeli military and Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.