Two of the hundreds of United States citizens trapped in the Gaza Strip have filed a lawsuit against the US government.
Zakaria and Laila Alarayshi, who live in Michigan, were visiting family in Gaza when they became trapped in a war zone amid the cross-fire between Hamas and Israel. The Biden administration has evacuated US citizens from Israel but not from Gaza.
“I worked three jobs. I built a business. I pay taxes. I did everything right to build a better future for myself and my family and live honourably…now I feel like a second-class citizen,” Mr Alarayshi told Al Jazeera.
Nabih Ayad, a lawyer and founder of the Arab American Civil Rights League (ACRL), a Michigan-based advocacy group involved in the lawsuit, said Washington had a duty to protect all its citizens.
“The fact that you are evacuating US citizens of Israeli descent but not US citizens of Palestinian descent creates a problem,” Mr Ayad told Al Jazeera.