VISTA, Calif. (KGTV) - It’s mission partway complete for a Vista woman, trying to help her family escape war-torn Gaza.
A photo taken in Egypt shows Ruba Almasri's mother, two nieces and a nephew, after getting out of Gaza last month.
“I was very relieved, very happy. At same time, we’re very, very concerned for the rest of family,” said Almasri.
Almasri has 11 other loved ones in Gaza, including two sisters and their children.
Her niece, Shahd Shbear, 20, one of the four who escaped the violence, joined me via Zoom.
She recalls one night more than a month ago, after the family evacuated to her grandmother's home in southern Gaza, when the bombs started falling in their neighborhood.
“Hugging each other and crying. because the sound couldn't stop, at that time. It was so close. … We said that’s the end,” said Shbear.
Soon after, they were forced to evacuate to Rafah, a border town.
Shbear says she, her parents and siblings took up in an outbuilding of an abandoned farm.
“The extreme cold, and there is no clean drinking water. They are living on canned goods,” said Shbear.
Back in San Diego, Almasri launched a fundraising campaign, after she learned it would cost $4,000 to $7,000 per person to get on an evacuation list at the Egpytian border.
A few weeks ago, she says because of those funds, several of those family were able to get out.
There is relief, but Shbear can only think of her remaining family, enduring constant bombing.
“When I call them, I can hear the bombs around them, and their crying,” said Shbear.
Shbear says two of her sisters have told her, they are hoping the bombs strike them.
“One sister told me, ‘I hope something comes and end our lives, just to feel more comfortable,’” said Shbear.
The race to get her siblings and other family out of Gaza just got tougher.
Almasri says according to Egyptian border officials, the price for each person is now more than $10,000.
As she tries to raise the money, she calls the daily uncertainty, torture.
“I do wait for them every night, for that phone call, for them to tell me, ‘We’re alive. We made it through the night,’” said Almasri.
Almasri has also submitted a list of family to the State Department in hopes of getting on their evacuation list. It's reserved for immediate family, but she's hoping her loved ones will be added.
