A wall of red tape between Gaza and US

Smoke and flames rising during an Israeli air strike in central Gaza Strip. — Reuters

GHADA Redwan, a 48-year-old pharmacist in Houston, Texas, has been trying to get her parents out of the Gaza Strip for months. Their bags, packed and ready to go, have been sitting by their door in Rafah, the city where Israel is now conducting a military offensive.

But Ghada has hit roadblocks at every turn. And like other Palestinian-Americans desperate to get their relatives to safety, she has described a confounding bureaucratic maze involving the US State Department, the governments of Israel and Egypt, politicians, advocacy groups, lawyers and more.