A Palestinian woman whose son serves in the U.S. Navy was secretly evacuated from Gaza after a Trump-era diplomatic team and the governments of Israel and Jordan intervened, the Washington Post reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter and correspondence it reviewed.
According to the Post, the operation required a temporary pause in Israeli military strikes and coordination among multiple governments to ensure safe passage for 59-year-old Ahlam Firwana, whose U.S. Navy son, Petty Officer Younis Firwana, had spent months pleading for help.
The complex rescue underscored the near impossibility of legally escaping Gaza without high-level political support, the paper noted.
The Post said Firwana's extraction cost roughly $10,000 for ground transport and relied on advanced tracking software and personal appeals to senior U.S. diplomats. Her son, now a naturalized citizen stationed in California, told the Post that his family endured bombings, starvation, and the destruction of their home during Israel's assault on Hamas forces.
"They had a point," he said, "where they were eating birdseed."
The effort drew in former Trump officials and U.S. veterans.
The Post reported that Morgan Ortagus, Trump's former deputy special envoy to the Middle East, coordinated with top American diplomats in Jordan after being approached by Alex Plitsas, a member of the Special Operations Association of America. The veterans group has helped legally evacuate about 1,100 people from Gaza, including relatives of U.S. service members.
According to the Post, Steve Gabavics, a retired Army colonel with experience in Jerusalem, used contacts in the Israeli military and intelligence community to obtain safe-passage guarantees. Israel agreed to a limited pause in airstrikes and to maintain what Gabavics described as "a security buffer" around Firwana's route.
The Post further reported that Jordan's ambassador to Washington, Dina Kawar, confirmed her country's role, saying Amman was "glad to help facilitate" the operation as part of its broader humanitarian efforts.
The extraction, led on the ground by Army veteran Ben Clay, took 19 hours and included a perilous nine-mile walk to the Kerem Shalom crossing before Firwana finally reached safety on Sept. 17.
Firwana now awaits a U.S. visa in Jordan. Her son told the Washington Post the rescue restored his faith that "these guys care about my family. I'm not alone."
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