Relatives of US soldier escape Gaza in secret operation coordinated by US, Israel and Egypt

Relatives of an American soldier escaped the Gaza Strip on New Year’s Eve in a secret operation led by Israel and coordinated by the United States, Israel, Egypt and others, a U.S. official told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Ragi A. Sckak, 24, is an infantryman in the U.S. military in South Korea, and his mother, Zahra Sckak, 44, managed to make it out of Gaza on Dec. 31, along with her brother-in-law, Farid Sukaik, an American citizen. Zahra Sckak’s husband, Abedalla, was shot when the family fled from a building that was hit during an airstrike amid the war between Israel and the Hamas terror organization. Abedalla died a few days later without treatment.

According to the family, along with American lawyers and advocates working on the family’s behalf, after Zahra and Farid were rescued, they were stuck in a building surrounded by combatants, with little or no food to eat. For six days the only drinking water they had was from the sewers.

Israel Defense Forces and local Israeli officials reportedly extracted the two family members from Gaza. There was no indication that American officials were involved in the rescue ground operation in Gaza.

“The United States played solely a liaison and coordinating role between the Sckak family and the governments of Israel and Egypt,” the anonymous U.S. official told the AP.

Prior to the secret escape, Zahra's second son, Fadi Sckak, said: “I just want to see my mother again, that's the goal. Being able to hold her again. I can't bear to lose her,” Fadi said.

The extraction on New Year's Eve is the first known operation of its kind to rescue American citizens and their relatives from Gaza during the war.

The operation took place after pressure and appeals from Sckak family members in the U.S. and U.S.-based groups asking Congress members and the Biden administration for help.

According to the State Department, about 300 American citizens, legal permanent residents and their immediate family members, still remain in Gaza.

On Friday, the State Department said that it has helped more than 1,300 people who were eligible for U.S. assistance – American citizens, green card holders and their immediate family members – to escape through the Rafah crossing into Egypt. In addition, the State Department is keeping track of the remaining 300 citizens who are still seeking assistance from the U.S. to escape the war-torn enclave. The number includes less than 50 U.S. citizens.

“U.S. citizens and their families will make their own decisions and adjust their plans as this difficult situation changes,” the State Department said in a statement.