South Bay Palestinian worried about his family's safety in Gaza
SAN JOSE -- San Jose resident Sami Almalfouh was born and raised in northern Gaza. He was an undergraduate at university in Jordan before moving to the U.S. to pursue his education. He eventually settled in the Bay Area.
"It's beyond stressful. Today I actually took the day off from work. I couldn't focus on my work," he said.
Almalfouh, who is 42, works at a tech company in Silicon Valley and lives with his wife and two young sons.
His mind and heart are now with his family in Gaza. Most of his siblings, nieces and nephews and his mother fled south after the Israel warned a million residents to evacuate northern Gaza for their own safety.
His father, who is in his seventies, chose to stay back in the Gaza home where Almalfouh grew up.
"His logic was: they're bombing everywhere and was saying 'what guarantees that they were not going to get bombed on the way (out)?' And he was actually convincing them to stay put," Almalfouh explained.
Almalfouh's brother is staying behind to watch over their father.
Almalfouh last visited Gaza this summer. He remembers a childhood with periods of peace and violence.
"I used to smell tear gas on my way to school almost every other week. That was when I was like six and seven," he said. "Life was never normal in Gaza since 2005, 2006."
Now, he's staying in touch with his family via WhatsApp, hoping they come out of this alive.
"It will never end -- the cycle of violence that we see there -- because there's occupation," he said. "People -- for 15 years, 16 years in Gaza -- have not had a path for life. Yeah they go to school, they eat, they sleep. But there's nothing."