(WXYZ) — A Livonia family has been trapped in Gaza for the last 12 days.
Zakaria Alarayshi and his family have lived in Livonia for the last 23 years. Alarayshi and his wife traveled back home to Gaza a few days before the surprise Hamas attack on Israel. They have since been unable to return home or evacuate to safety.
Wednesday, Alarayshi made a cell phone video making a desperate plea to President Joe Biden and the U.S. government to intervene and get his family to safety.
"Life here is so bad. I can’t handle. I can’t handle here. This is no life here." said an emotional Alarayshi in the video."I can’t sleep. Bomb everywhere. Every minute I count, I’m going to be dying next minute."
Alarayshi says in the last 12 days he's been forced to move to several locations. He says his neighbor's home was hit by a rocket.
Alarayshi says he and his family have now run out of water and food as Israel has cut off water, fuel and electricity that power water and sewage plants according to the Associated Press.
"We have to drink salt water. I don’t shower now for 12 days. No shave. No nothing. Food, hard to find the food. If you have the money we cannot find food because it’s gone," he described.
His family in metro Detroit in conjunction with attorneys filed a lawsuit in hopes of urging the U.S. government to provide the same evacuation support to citizens trapped in Gaza as they are to those in Israel. The lawsuit alleges a violation of the 5th Amendment Equal Protection Clause.
Additionally, attorneys for the plaintiffs have established a hot line for other U.S. citizens trapped in Gaza. They say they’re now learning of several more U.S. citizens from Houston and California who have been unable to evacuate which means more lawsuits could be filed soon.
"What we’re calling upon is basically for them to evacuate. Give us a plan of action. How are we going to evacuate these United States citizens? One life is not worth more than another life," said Attorney Nabih Ayad who is the founder of the Arab American Civil Rights League.
Ayad says legislators have to act now because lives depend on it.
"When you consider 90% of the border is controlled by Israel, a very close ally to our United States, as well as the other 10 or 20% controlled by Egypt, another ally of the United States, there’s something that the United States can do," said Ayad. "They can talk to our close allies and tell them to make way for these individuals to get out."
Thursday, Ayad and additional counsel for the Alarayshi family will return to federal court working to get a concrete plan of action from the Biden Administration on evacuations.
Any U.S. citizen trapped in Gaza is urged to reach out to the hotline at 1 (888) 806-3822.
