Michigan couple credits Rashida Tlaib, Arab American Civil Rights League for Gaza escape
DEARBORN, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) – A Livonia, Michigan, couple is back home after getting caught in the middle of the Israel-Hamas conflict while visiting family in Gaza.
Zakaria and Laila Alarayshi landed at Detroit Metro Airport Tuesday afternoon. On Wednesday, the couple said had it not been for the Arab American Civil Rights League and Congresswoman Rashida Talib, their names would never have been on a list, giving them safe passage from Gaza into Egypt.
The couple had only been in Gaza, their homeland, for about a week for a planned trip before the conflict broke out.
"I hear like bomb next to us. You will not believe how strong. I was crying. I'm 60 years old and crying. All the kids around me coming to me, 'We don't know what to do,'" Zakaria Alarayshi said.
Zakaria Alarayshi says he ran out of medication within a few days and had to drink salt water to survive.
He initially reached out to the U.S. embassy but with little luck.
"Six times I go to the border, and it was closed, and I said, 'What's gonna happen? I'm American, and you're saying you can't take me out, what's the problem?'" he said.
The ACRL sued the U.S. government to ensure the Alarayshis would be added to a list of people allowed to cross the Rafah border into Egypt.
The first time, Zakaria's name was on the list, but not his wife. The second time, it was the other way around, and on the third try, both their names were on the list.
"We're so happy that they're here there with their loved ones and family, but there are hundreds of families that are still stuck living this nightmare of a situation in Gaza," said Nabih Ayad, ACRL founder.
The Alarayashis still have seven other children in Gaza, a country they fled from more than 20 years ago because of war.
"There's a lot of people out there. They need to come home. The situation is not like when you talk to somebody face-to-face," said Yahya Alarayshi, the couple's son.
The Alarayashis can only speak with their loved ones in Gaza whenever the internet is working, and they are extremely worried about their well-being.
Now that the Alarayashi couple is back home, the ACRL has dismissed its lawsuit against the U.S. government, but there are several other similar lawsuits still working their way through the federal courts across the country.