Pittsburgh Palestinian says he's lost over 20 family members in Gaza
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A local Palestinian is speaking out for the first time about the loss of life in his own family in Gaza over the last two months.
As KDKA-TV political editor Jon Delano reports, the Pittsburgh resident says his story is typical of many displaced Palestinians now in Gaza.
For hundreds of years, Karim Alshurafa says his Palestinian family lived in what is now Israel until the Israeli War of Independence in 1948 when his father, then a child, was forced to move to Gaza.
"He was displaced with his mother and two brothers and three sisters. One of his brothers died during the displacement as they were traveling to get to safety. At that moment, the expectation was to leave during the war and then come back later to home when things were safe. Of course, that never happened to my family," says Alshurafa.
Instead, his family were refugees in Gaza, where many members of his extended family continue to live.
Karim and his family were able to move to Egypt, Kuwait, Canada and America, but Karim says the current war in Gaza has taken a deep toll on his Gazan family.
"Sad to say this, but we've lost over 20 family members in Gaza and over 45 relatives," he says.
Delano: "Was this the result of bombing by the Israelis?"
Alshurafa: "Yes, in the first week, we heard of eight family members who passed away, all in one bomb strike that hit a building and collapsed the building on the family. There were three generations of family that passed away at once."
Other family members died in the weeks that followed.
Alshurafa, who now lives with his family in Ohio Township, says each day without a cease-fire in the bombing increases the risk.
"Any Gazan like myself has been terrified to listen to the news or even to check their WhatsApp messages on a daily basis. Your heart really can't take it," he says.
"It's just so unfair what's happening to them."
As CBS reported, even American Palestinians, like Karim's aunt, Naela Alshurafa, who was trapped in Gaza, was at great risk until she recently was allowed to leave through Egypt.
"It's a miracle she stayed alive because she was experiencing bombs raining all around them while she was there," Alshurafa said.
Karim says he welcomes any pause in the bombing but says everyone should be calling for a permanent cease-fire to save lives.
"I really plead to everyone, to every person who has an ounce of humanity to really just feel the pain, as if you were in those shoes. Would you be okay with your family being in that scenario and not doing anything about it?"