Americans home from Gaza can't stop thinking about who — and what — they left behind

https://www.npr.org/2023/11/08/ [login to see] /gaza-massachusetts-family-home
It took 27 days — of constant bombardment, dwindling food and water, sleepless nights and pleas for help — before Wafaa Abuzayda, her husband Abood Okal and their 1-year-old son Yousef could escape from Gaza.

The three had been visiting relatives for the first time in upwards of six years when Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7. They were among the roughly 600 Americans who found themselves trapped in Gaza as Israel retaliated with air strikes and, later, a ground invasion.

They evacuated to the south, where they sheltered in a house with some 40 other people near the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, ready to rush over at a moment's notice if they got word the gate would open.