No Higher Priority? The State Department’s Failure to Protect American Citizens in Gaza

By Michael Casey

Summary: American citizens in Gaza, like all Palestinians there, face numerous movement and access restrictions.  These restrictions killed Americans even before October 2023, as the inability to leave Gaza for medical treatments regularly led to preventable deaths.  Since October 7th, the U.S. government has continued to allow Israeli authorities to deny exit for American citizens from Gaza, placing those citizens and their families in dire humanitarian conditions and subject to regular violence.

Congress should direct the State Department to conduct a full accounting of U.S. Citizens and Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs) who remain in Gaza, and press the Administration to take all necessary steps to provide for their safety, as it would for U.S. citizens and LPRs in any similar context.

Background: Ever since the Israeli blockade of Gaza began in 2007, all Palestinians in Gaza have faced severe movement and access restrictions imposed by the Israeli government, including approximately 700 U.S. citizens residing in the strip as of October 2023, by U.S. Government estimates.  An Israeli naval blockade prevents any movement by sea.  Gaza’s lone airport, opened in 1999 with a ribbon cutting attended by President Clinton, was destroyed two years later by Israeli forces.  All entry and exit occurred at two land crossings: Rafah crossing into Egypt and Erez Crossing into Israel.

In theory, anyone could apply to exit via Rafah crossing, but there were numerous hurdles.  An exit permit required several hundred dollars in institutionalized bribes to both Egyptian and Hamas officials, followed by an arduous trip across the Sinai to Cairo, usually to a special holding area at the airport for immediate departure.  

Exiting Erez was even more complicated.  Outside of medical and employment permits, Palestinians in Gaza were not able to even apply to exit Erez.  Even within these categories, the vast majority of permits were initially denied, including employment permits for UN employees and U.S. embassy local staff.  Medical permits faced similar problems.  Even if the Israeli government approved an exit permit for a sick patient, permits for caregivers to accompany them were regularly denied.  This was particularly problematic for minor children.  Cycling through various friends and family to find an acceptable caregiver delayed treatment further.   

Permits, if granted, were often insufficient, such as a one-time entry permit for cancer treatment issued several months after diagnosis.  Officials at Augusta Victoria hospital in East Jerusalem regularly said many Gazan patients they received would have easily survived their medical issue if they had gotten a timely permit.  Even simple treatments, such as an injection or an MRI, were unavailable in Gaza due to Israeli import restrictions.   

All U.S. citizens and their families who lived in Gaza faced these same restrictions; there was no permit category or exceptions for foreigners.  The U.S. government did little to change these restrictions or to assist Americans to exit.  This issue rose to prominence during negotiations over Israel’s entry into the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, as reciprocity requirements would necessitate Israel granting equal access to all U.S. citizens, including those in the West Bank and Gaza.  While some steps were taken to address inequities for West Bank residents, under the agreement, Americans in Gaza would have continued to face the same movement restrictions, essentially denying them equal access as required under the Visa Waiver Program. 

The period since October 2023 has seen a marked increase in the challenges faced by U.S. citizens in Gaza  Hamas attacked Erez crossing, killing Israeli soldiers and destroying the facilities.  Several days later, the IDF bombed Rafah crossing and threatened to attack any inbound aid trucks.  In the initial weeks of the war, there was little effort from senior U.S. leadership to evacuate anyone from Gaza.  Meanwhile, massive efforts were underway to help Americans leave Israel, including chartering flights and even renting a ship to take them to Cyprus.  In daily situation reports, even adding a line noting zero Americans had exited Gaza, next to thousands from Israel, was often removed by senior leadership.  

Unlike previous conflicts, when Rafah was allowed to continue functioning normally, U.S. support for Israel’s denial of entry to humanitarian aid allowed Hamas to leverage the over 2,000 foreign nationals and their families as a bargaining chip.  While Washington was slow to accept the need to negotiate with Hamas, the newly-appointed Special Envoy for Middle East Humanitarian Issues, Ambassador Satterfield, recognized this fact and began pressuring Hamas, via Qatar, as well as the Israeli government.  Consular staff in Jerusalem worked to compile a list of U.S. citizens and their immediate families for exit.  Despite the fact that these Americans would be departing to Egypt from Gaza, the United States allowed the Israeli government to review the list and deny exit for U.S. citizens.

These denials were not questioned by the United States, there was no due process on the part of the Israeli government, and in most cases, these Americans were not informed of their denial.  U.S. consular staff worked tirelessly to keep U.S. citizens informed of their situation as best they could, and coordinated their exit with the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.  However, for those denied exit, they continued to wait in Gaza with false hope, often with their entire families who did not want to leave a family member behind.  Many people – including entire families – likely died because of this delay.

This situation ended when the IDF took over Rafah crossing in May 2024.  What should have been an occasion for an even easier coordination path, given the removal of Hamas, was instead a complete shutdown of evacuations and a continued denial of the entrance of humanitarian aid.  

Recommendation to Congress:

• A full accountability of U.S. citizens in Gaza is possible.  The number (around 700) is not unwieldy, and consular records likely exist for most of them.  A Congressionally-mandated report would give consular officials the needed mandate – and protection from the current administration – to work on identifying and addressing the needs of these U.S. citizens, many of them children, who remain at severe risk from our partner, Israel.

About the Author
Mike Casey is a former soldier and diplomat with over two decades of government service.  He served as an Army engineer officer for five years, including a year in Iraq as a platoon leader at the height of the conflict.  As a diplomat, Mike served in China, Pakistan, and Malaysia, as well as in policy and intelligence positions in Washington.  His final assignment was in Jerusalem, where he served as the Deputy Political Counselor for the U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs.  Mike resigned from the State Department in 2024 over U.S. policies in Palestine.  He is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.