Rafah border opening brings hope for suburban family of woman trapped in Gaza
Trapped in Gaza since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, the niece of Elgin City Council member Carol Rauschenberger now has hope that Wednesday's opening of the Rafah border from southern Gaza into Egypt could soon have her on her way home.
Emilee Abuhamad Rauschenberger, her husband and their five children have lived a refugee-like existence for weeks, sharing a southern Gaza house without electricity or water with 30 others.
Her father, Elgin native John Rauschenberger, said he spoke with his daughter after learning that a deal had been struck allowing foreign nationals across the border.
“You could tell in her voice she was poised and in control,” he said.
Emily described her circumstances in a Wednesday Wall Street Journal article written by local reporter with whom she's been in touch.
“It's just a nightmare,” she said. “There's so many people wanting to leave and very few people getting to leave.”
Still, her family is pleased for any breakthrough when there had been little evidence of momentum before, John Rauschenberger said.
“I think the real upbeat is that people are getting out,” he added. “We're excited. We knew going into the fourth week things were likely to get worse.”
News reports this week indicated as many as 1,000 Americans are stuck in Gaza, more than the 450 that had been estimated previously.
The opening of the border Wednesday follows a particularly harsh week for his daughter's family, John Rauschenberger said. Internet service was shut down in southern Gaza for 48 hours and has been intermittent since being reinstated.
Because of cloudy days, the solar panels used to recharge the family's phones and electronic devices were temporarily useless. But an innovative solution was found by using the battery from an otherwise broken electric bicycle.
Emilee told her father that life at the western-style housing area built 20 years ago by contractors from Qatar is a bit like being at camp. Everyone packed inside goes to sleep at the same time and gets up when the sun rises.
Their daily routine then becomes similar to a family tribe, John said. The women go to the bakery, men look for other sources of food like rice, the boys try to track down water trucks and the older girls look after the younger children.
Emilee reported not having access to meat or fruit for most of the time since Oct. 7, her father said.
The couple and their children, ages 4 to 13, had been visiting husband Mohammed Abu Hamad's family on an olive tree farm in Abasan Al-Kabira, Gaza when the fighting began.
Though their primary residence is Manchester, England, the family has been living in Amman, Jordan, while Emilee worked under a two-year contract related to her international education qualifications.