A U.S. service member’s mother and American uncle were extracted from Gaza in a secret operation coordinated by the U.S., Israel, Egypt and others, according to new reporting from The Associated Press.
The report, which attributes the information to a U.S. official speaking on the condition of anonymity to confirm the rescue, said the operation is the only known secret extraction of U.S. citizens and their families since the fighting began nearly three months ago.
The U.S. official told the AP that Zahra Sckak and her brother-in-law, Farid Sukaik, who is a U.S. citizen, managed to leave Gaza on New Year’s Eve in a secret operation. Zahra Sckak is the mother of Spc. Ragi A. Sckak, an infantryman in the U.S. military.
Israeli military and local Israeli officials were involved in the secret extraction, the U.S. official told the AP, which also reported there was no indication U.S. personnel were on the ground in Gaza at the time.
“The United States played solely a liaison and coordinating role between the Sckak family and the governments of Israel and Egypt,” the U.S. official said to the AP.
The development comes after calls for help from Sckak’s family and various advocacy groups to the Biden administration and Congress.
Conditions in Gaza have deteriorated in the past couple of months as the Israeli ground operation and airstrikes have killed thousands of Palestinians in Gaza and have flattened entire neighborhoods. Officials have stressed concerns of mass starvation and displacement in the strip.
The State Department has said about 300 U.S. citizens, legal permanent residents and their immediate family members remain in Gaza, according to the AP, and remain at risk from the worsening conditions.