After relatives are killed and homes destroyed, Chicago-area Palestinians plead for a cease-fire in Gaza
CHICAGO (CBS) -- With the death toll now surpassing 28,000 in Gaza, calls for a cease-fire grow louder.
Especially for the local Palestinian families in Chicago with relatives who have been killed or have gone missing since the start of the war.
Thirteen days. That's how long Hoda Shubair said it took for her to locate her parents and other loved ones following an airstrike on their home in Gaza.
"Some family members went back to the area. And we found the bodies of my parents, my sister-in-law, and my nephew on the street," Shubair said.
She's one of the more than 19,000 Palestinian-Americans in the Chicago area, the largest population in the country, grappling with the impact of war thousands of miles away.
"I feel helpless," Shubair said.
Some of them shared their stories of loss at a news conference held by the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR.) The situation on the ground in Gaza, they said, is catastrophic.
"This is devastation. This is mass murder," said Ahmed Rehab, Executive Director of CAIR Chicago.
For William Asfour, a Countryside resident, the pain is indescribable. He said dozens of members of his family in Gaza have lost their lives since October at the hands of Israeli forces, including a three-month-old baby girl.
"All of my family members who were killed were bombed or shot by Israel in the area that was a safe zone south of Gaza," Asfour said.
Their goal, they said, is to get much-needed aid to those relatives that remain in the region, most of whom have fled to the southern city of Rafah where an Israeli army ground offensive may be on the horizon.
The onset of malnutrition is among the biggest concerns that experts said will take its toll.
"My surviving family members are living on one meal a day. And some of them, one piece of bread a day," said Navil Alshurafa.
"Gazan children will be shorter than children in other countries. They will be less emotionally developed. They will not have secure attachments. And they will carry those scars for the rest of their lives," said Chicago-based pediatrician Dr. Yasser Said.
These families said they will continue to put pressure on officials, both on the local and federal levels, to make a ceasefire a reality.
