O'FALLON, Ill. — It's estimated that roughly 250,000 Palestinians are currently living in the United States.
Since war broke out between Israel and Hamas, many Palestinian-Americans such as Saddam and Milad Hamed have stayed glued to their phones.
“It’s emotional,” Saddam said.
“It’s bad,” Milad said. “I hope this never happened.”
“I’m concerned for any innocent life,” Saddam said. “In Islam, we don’t condone killing innocents. No elderly, no women, no children.”
They’re making multiple calls each day to check on their family, who still live in the West Bank.
“On the safety side they’re not safe,” Milad said.
As military-aged men, they can’t simply go home — despite having dual citizenship as Palestinian-Americans.
“The last time I went home, [it] was through Ben Gurion,” Saddam said. “I got held up for 11 hours, interrogated three times and when I leave I get strip searched down to my boxers and humiliated. I mean how would it make you feel?”
They left their homeland behind years ago to escape the violence that has become all too common under what they call an apartheid system.
“Innocent people are dying every day even before this war, but you never hear about it,” Saddam said. “They’re always getting killed and sniped. Even if you have a rock in your hand you’ll get killed.”
Gaza is ruled by Hamas, which is opposed to Israel.
“Gaza is just an open-air prison,” Saddam said. “They’re cut off from the world. No way in and no way out.”
The West Bank is governed by the Fatah, which holds a tenuous relationship with Israel and has opposed Hamas since its takeover of Gaza.
“They’re all puppets,” Saddam said. “They’re good for nothing. I’m going to anger a lot of Palestinians saying that.”
As the fighting continues, they’re continuing to pray for peace not only for their people but the entire region.
“I hope it ends today,” Milad said. “I hope everything goes back and there starts being peace all over.”
“I’m sure there are Israelis and Palestinians that would love to live in peace like they lived for hundreds of years in Jerusalem and those parts,” Saddam said. “They lived for hundreds of years peacefully. Make it one state.”
According to the Associated Press, Egypt and multiple international groups have called for humanitarian corridors to get aid into Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vowing to crush the remaining remnants of Hamas in the Gaza Strip with the Israeli military after cutting off food, water, and electricity.