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5 children rescued from Gaza back in Tampa
Evan Axelbank reports
TAMPA, Fla. - Five children from Tampa are back home after three petrifying months in the Gaza Strip.
Their mother's prayers for their safe return were answered by Project Dynamo, a veteran's group from Tampa that conducts rescue missions.
"Now my kids are back home, safe," said Hana Elnagar, their mother. "After they saw a lot of people die in front of them."
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The children – 11-year-old Meara, 9-year-old Abdelrahman, 8-year-old Mara, 6-year-old Yasir and 4-year-old Ameir – left Tampa in August to visit relatives in the Gaza Strip. But more than a month later, the fighting began in Gaza after the terrorist attack on Israel.
That's when Elnagar started pleading with the U.S. government to get them back to the states.
"I didn't know anything about my kids," said Elnagar. "I don't know if they are in a safe area."
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Because communications and power were so spotty, she now knows that they had been kidnapped from their grandparents by a relative. The relative had them in a home that was just feet from where Israel was dropping bombs.
Bryan Stern and his team at Project Dynamo learned the children had been taken by that relative into Egypt. Without giving too many details, he said they arranged for their rescue, and this weekend brought Elnagar to Cairo to get them.
"As a soldier, we volunteered for this sort of thing. That's okay. That's what we signed up for. No problem with that. That's why we have a volunteer army. No problem. But the kids, they're stuck in the middle of it," Stern said.
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The kids are all in need of medical attention after three months of being malnourished, exhausted and not having a safe place to sleep. They'll be back to school soon enough.
"Finally, I saw my kids," said Elnagar. "It's a good day."
Project Dynamo has conducted 609 rescue missions of Americans who are stuck overseas or in natural disasters here at home. From Ukraine to the Middle East to Hawaii, they have rescued thousands of people.
For information on Project Dynamo, you can head to www.projectdynamo.org.