Chicago area woman's family stuck in Gaza, suing Biden administration to force evacuation
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Palestinian-American woman from the western suburbs on Thursday said her family is suing the Biden administration, demanding the U.S. help evacuate them from Gaza amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
Yasmeen Elagha said she's already lost more than 100 relatives in the war, and fears even more of her loved ones – including two American citizens – will be killed if they aren't evacuated.
"The only thing that I'm being told is that there is nothing further that the U.S. government can do, which I don't believe at all," Elagha said.
As CBS 2's Tara Molina reported earlier this week, Yasmeen Elagha has been playing a brutal waiting game for two months now, as she tries to get her family out of Gaza.
CBS 2 first sat down with Elagha in October - and her fight to get her family out of Gaza safely has not changed.
Elagha was able to confirm her family members are in the crisis intake system, but can't confirm they're on the list of people approved to evacuate.
"They are in imminent danger," Elagha said.
Her family members in Gaza are now suing Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, claiming they are violating the equal protection clause of the Constitution.
The lawsuit claims, while the State Department has told the family that it's impossible for them to evacuate U.S. citizens from Gaza, it has already arranged for citizens in Israel to evacuate from the war zone.
"You have Israeli Americans and Palestinian Americans stuck in the same war, and Israeli Americans were given the means, the ability to get out safely within days," said Elagha's attorney, Maria Kari.
Elagha has 10 family members she is trying to get evacuated from Gaza. Her two cousins there are American citizens, while the other eight are direct relatives. She wants to get them all back to her family home in west suburban Oakbrook Terrace.
"My family's situation has gotten significantly worse. A few weeks ago, they had to evacuate their home in Khan Yunis - because the bombings around them were increasing to an extent that was not livable at all for them," Ehagha said on Monday. "So they evacuated west, and just this morning, actually, Israeli soldiers took over the home they were living in in Khan Yunis. And today, an air strike blew up right in front of their home."
The lawsuit claims the State Department has told them at least two of their relatives in Gaza already have been approved for evacuation, but have not had their names added to the exit list as needed to travel out of Gaza into Egypt.
The lawsuit seeks a court order requiring the Biden administration to get their relatives' names on the exit list, and "use all resources at their disposal" to evacuate all U.S. citizens from Gaza.
"Their lives are in grave danger from ongoing military action and violence in which they are non-combatants. This lawsuit is by no means an attempt to interfere with the armed conflict in Israel and Palestine. This action seeks only to compel a governmental agenc(ies) to initiate evacuation efforts and secure the safety and well-being of its citizens on equal terms to other noncombatants in the same war zone," the lawsuit states.
Elagha has been fighting to get those family members out of Gaza safely for more than two months. Three of them are dependent on medication to which they have no access right now.
"It's absolutely a horrendous sight, and it is unlivable," she said. "They're also running out of water. They're running out of food."
Elagha said she has a massive family overseas - and knows firsthand what could happen. There have been nearly 18,000 Palestinians killed since Oct. 7, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
"I have almost 100 family members who have been killed," Elagha said, "and this is since Oct. 7."
But even in the cases of the two U.S. citizens, Elagha said despite near constant phone calls and emails with representatives of the U.S. Department of State and U.S. embassy offices, she has only so far been able to confirm, "We have all of your family members in the crisis intake system," according to an email she received and reviewed by CBS 2.
She was also told by email: "The U.S. Department of State has asked the relevant government officials to add [her 10 family members] to the official, online crossing list for Rafah. Processing times vary."
The lawsuit also alleges that, while the U.S. has said it can't evacuate its citizens from Gaza, 14 other nations already have taken steps to evacuate their citizens from the war zone.
"Despite successful evacuations by other countries, the U.S. persists with its refusal to evacuate a single citizen from Gaza since the commencement of the war on October 10 despite the active and ongoing pleas of those stuck in Gaza, their family members, and various organizations," the lawsuit states.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit and the status of the family members trapped in Gaza.
Last month, a law firm in San Francisco filed a similar lawsuit on behalf of a Bay Area resident who was stuck in Gaza. Days later, 81-year-old Nawal Alghalayini was able to escape Gaza through the Rafah border into Egypt.