American struggles with guilt after evacuating Gaza: "Guilty to eat, guilty to sleep"

Naela Elshorafa, an American who was visiting her ill mother in Gaza when the Israel-Hamas war broke out, reunited with her son on Saturday at her home near Los Angeles. She's happy to be home, but says she is struggling with guilt.

"Guilty to eat, guilty to sleep, guilty to take a shower, because I knew about my family over there ... the life they have now," she told CBS News.

Naela Elshorafa's trip to Gaza was originally slated for 10 days. It took a drastic turn when Israeli missiles began to rain down on targets in Gaza in response to Hamas' deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israeli soldiers and civilians. She was caught in the conflict for a month, and tried four times to cross the Egypt-Gaza border.

Elshorafa's son, Nabil Elshorafa, thought he would never see his mother again — and weeks ago, was bracing for the worst.

"I'm kind of just preparing myself right now where I, I get a phone call that tells me my mother's not alive," Nabil Elshorafa said in late October. 

He grew increasingly desperate, until she was finally able to leave the Palestinian territory. 

"We say 'Alhamdulillah,' thank God, praise be to God that she made it out," said Nabil Elshorafa. 

Naela Elshorafa is one of about 400 Americans who evacuated Gaza as a result of weeks of negotiations involving the U.S. She said she is glad to be out, but "not fully happy" as her sick mother and other relatives were left behind.

"I hope I can get my family out, you know, because I left half of my heart over there," she said. 

Nabil Elshorafa said 19 of their family members have been killed in the war, and that the toll is rising daily. 

"There's not a single individual that has family in Gaza that hasn't lost someone," he said. 

He hopes negotiations, which facilitated his mother's escape, can also bring peace to the region.

"We can speak our way out of this war. We can negotiate to solve the problem," he said.

In:
• Hamas
• Israel
• Gaza Strip

Adriana Diaz

Adriana Diaz is a CBS News correspondent based in Chicago and is the anchor of Saturday's edition of the "CBS Weekend News."

Twitter